Rupert Blue (1868-1948), US physician and Surgeon General of the USA from 1912 to 1920. Blue earned his M.D. from the University of Maryland (1892), and then worked for the Marine Hospitals Service, which later became the Public Health Service. Blue became known for battling outbreaks of epidemic disease, such as bubonic plague in San Francisco (1902 and 1906) and yellow fever in New Orleans (1905). He became Surgeon General in 1912. Under his leadership, the PHS improved water sanitation and public education about disease, in both rural and urban areas. Blue also oversaw PHS activities in World War I. In 1920, he stepped down as Surgeon General. Blue retired in 1932.