President-elect Donald J. Trump on Friday selected Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a New York medical director with family ties to his first administration and a Fox News contributor, to be the next surgeon general of the United States.
“She is committed to ensuring that Americans have access to affordable, quality healthcare, and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health to live longer, healthier lives,” Mr. Trump said in a social media post.
Dr. Nesheiwat is one of five New York City medical directors for CityMD, a chain of urgent care centers across the region, according to a spokeswoman. She has contributed to Fox News since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, speaking about Covid-19, mpox and the importance of cancer screening tests, among other topics.
Her sister Julia Nesheiwat, a former Army officer, was homeland security adviser in the first Trump administration and is married to Representative Mike Waltz of Florida, whom Mr. Trump has tapped to be national security adviser.
Often called “the nation’s doctor,” the surgeon general is responsible for leading thousands of public health officers and communicating key health information to the public. Dr. C. Everett Koop, perhaps the most influential surgeon general in the history of the office, played a key role in changing attitudes about smoking some 40 years ago.
The job is currently held by Dr. Vivek Murthy, who has sought to draw more attention to mental health issues. He wants to require a surgeon general’s warning label for social media and calls loneliness and isolation a public health crisis.
“Dr. Nesheiwat has big shoes to fill in succeeding Dr. Murthy, a leader who spoke to healing our rifts as a nation,” said Dr. Dave Chokshi, the former New York City health commissioner. “Serving as surgeon general is a weighty responsibility, rooted in the physician’s oath to do no harm — and in the duty to be a clarion voice for public health.”
In a social media post, Dr. Nesheiwat pledged “to work tirelessly to promote health, inspire hope, and serve our nation with dedication and compassion.”
A spokeswoman for CityMD said Dr. Nesheiwat has worked there for 12 years. The company has had a major impact on medical care in the city. Many New Yorkers now often find it more convenient to drop by one of its storefront clinics than book an appointment with their primary care doctor because they are open on weekends and into the evenings. During the first year of the pandemic, long lines outside CityMD clinics were a common sight as people sought Covid tests.
In September 2022, Dr. Nesheiwat told NashvilleVoyager that she had taken care of more than 20,000 Covid-related patients over the past two years.
“I do a little bit of everything,” she said, “from taking care of broken bones, lacerations, heart attacks, monkeypox, Covid, flu, appendicitis, etc. The variety keeps me on my toes.”
The selection of a doctor with little public health experience worried some experts. Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian who has written extensively about epidemics, did note that the job is largely “ceremonial” and less powerful than most Americans assume.
“Still, the surgeon general can move public opinion on our national health with his or her reports and pronouncements,” said Dr. Markel, the author of “Quarantine!,” a book about the 1892 typhus and cholera epidemics in New York. “Consequently, selecting a candidate many might deride as a ‘doc in the box’ director without any real public health credentials or experience is a time bomb without a clear idea of when ‘the boom’ is going to occur.”
Dr. Nesheiwat’s website mentions her forthcoming book “Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicine.” She also sells vitamins online.
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