Lieutenant General (Dr.), U.S. Air Force (Ret.)
Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Anderson graduated in 1964 from LSU Medical School in New Orleans. He entered the Air Force in 1965 through direct commission.
After pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, First Lieutenant Anderson joined the "Top Gun," 336th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Anderson’s Air Force career included serving as a command pilot, medical test pilot, and chief flight surgeon. Anderson had 2,200 flying hours, principally in fighter aircraft: F-4, F-15 Eagle and Hawker Hunter.
Anderson commanded Air Force hospitals of all sizes during his career. He was selected in 1994 as the 15th Surgeon General of the United States Air Force, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C.
He retired from the Air Force on January 1, 1997.
Following retirement, he served as Dean of Medicine at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, and Professor of Medicine at Loyola University (Stritch) School of Medicine, and in 1997, he was named the American Medical Association executive
vice president.
"Dr. Anderson has devoted his entire career to caring for patients and improving the professionalism of medical practice," said Thomas R. Reardon, M.D., chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.
Lieutenant General Edgar Ratcliffe Anderson Jr. was the recipient of the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.