# Surgeon General the head of the US Bureau of Public Health. In January 1964, the results of a two-year United States research project done by an advisory committee to the Surgeon General of the United States were published. The report stated that cigarette smoking contributes substantially to the death rate, and it linked the smoking of cigarettes to cancer, heart diseases, ulcers, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. the chief general officer or admiral in charge of the medical department of the US Army, Air Force or Navy