President-elect Donald Trump announced three health appointments on Friday evening, selecting former Florida Representative Dr. Dave Weldon as CDC Director, Johns Hopkins surgeon Dr. Marty Makary as FDA Commissioner, and Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat as Surgeon General.
These selections were announced alongside Trump’s previous nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, according to the source documents.
CDC Leadership: Dr. Dave Weldon’s Congressional Experience
Dr. Weldon, 71, served as a physician for 40 years and completed seven terms in Congress. During his time representing Florida’s 15th District from 1994 to 2008, Weldon introduced legislation aimed at moving vaccine safety research away from the CDC, which he stated had an “inherent conflict of interest.”
“Americans have lost trust in the CDC and in our Federal Health Authorities, who have engaged in censorship, data manipulation, and misinformation,” Trump stated in his announcement. If confirmed, Weldon would replace Dr. Mandy Cohen, marking the first CDC director to require Senate confirmation under a 2022 law.
Dr. Georges Benjamin, head of the American Public Health Association, noted: “He’s a well-trained internist. He’s practiced medicine. He doesn’t [seem to] have traditional public health training, but we’ll learn more when he goes through Senate confirmation.”
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FDA Nomination Focuses on Health Concerns
Dr. Marty Makary serves as a surgical oncologist at Johns Hopkins University. He has authored several books on health care, holds membership in the National Academy of Medicine, and received a masters in public health from Harvard.
During a Congressional roundtable earlier this year, Makary stated: “We have the most overmedicated, sickest population in the world and no one is talking about root causes. We have poisoned our food supply.”
According to Trump’s announcement, Makary would work with Kennedy to “properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth.”
Medical Experience Shapes Surgeon General Selection
Dr. Janette Nesheiwat works as a medical contributor for Fox News and serves as medical director at CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. Trump’s announcement cited her work during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City and in disaster response, including Hurricane Katrina.
Agency Leadership Changes
The announced appointments indicate the following focus areas, as stated in Trump’s announcements:
- CDC: Trump stated Weldon would focus on “Making America Healthy Again” through increased transparency
- FDA: The announcement emphasized evaluation of food supply and medical products
- Surgeon General: Trump’s statement noted focus on “access to affordable, quality health care”
The nominations await Senate confirmation, where the appointees’ qualifications and positions on public health issues will be reviewed.
