President-elect Donald Trump on Friday announced his picks for critical remaining public health roles in his incoming administration.
The announced selections come as some in the public health world have already expressed concern over the president-elect’s intention to elevate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, to the nation’s top health post as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Trump’s picks, revealed during a Friday night flurry of Cabinet and staff announcements, paint a fuller picture of what the health agency would look like under Kennedy, if confirmed by the US Senate.
US surgeon general: Also known as “the nation’s doctor,” the surgeon general is a medical doctor who focuses on educating and advising Americans on how to improve their health.
Trump picked Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for the post. Nesheiwat is a family practice doctor and Fox News medical contributor who is certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. She attended medical school at the American University of the Caribbean in St. Maarten, according to her New York state physician profile, and did postgraduate work at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
FDA commissioner: The US Food and Drug Administration commissioner oversees the FDA, which is responsible for the safety, efficacy and security of medications, biological products, medical devices, food and cosmetics. Vaccine authorization or approval falls under the FDA’s purview. The commissioner is traditionally a medical doctor.
Trump tapped Dr. Marty Makary for the position. Makary is a surgeon and researcher at Johns Hopkins University. Makary, like Nesheiwat, has Fox News ties. In an opinion piece published on Fox News at the height of the pandemic in 2021, Makary argued that Covid-19 had revealed the FDA to be a “broken” administration “mired in politics and red tape.”
CDC director: The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the nation’s foremost public health agency, which deals with disease prevention and control and environmental health. Among his or her most prominent duties is making final recommendations on vaccinations and immunization schedules.
Trump chose Dr. Dave Weldon, a former congressman from Florida, for this post. Weldon got a medical degree from SUNY-Buffalo on an Army scholarship and did postgraduate training in internal medicine at the Letterman Army Medical Center. He served six years in active duty and eight in the Army Reserve, according to a biography on his US Senate campaign website.
“As a physician, Dr. Weldon became involved with many health care policy issues, including efforts to ban human cloning and vaccine safety,” the campaign website notes. “He helped lead the effort to remove toxic mercury containing preservatives from childhood vaccines.”
Read more about how Trump rounded out key health positions here.
