Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Surgeon General Pick Dr. Nesheiwat Gained Popularity At Fox News
Politico: Trump Chooses Fox News Contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat For Surgeon General
President-elect Donald Trump said Friday he has chosen Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to serve as surgeon general in his new administration. Nesheiwat is a Fox News medical contributor and serves as a medical director at CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. Nesheiwat, who specialized in emergency and family medicine, has supported vaccines that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for HHS secretary, has cast doubts about. But she at times seemed to criticize the CDC’s guidance about Covid vaccines. She has also called into question the standards of care for youth with gender dysphoria from the American Academy of Pediatrics. (Frazier and Payne, 11/22)
USA Today: Trump Picks Fox News Medical Contributor As US Surgeon General
A graduate of the University of South Florida, Nesheiwat completed her medical residency at University of Arkansas Medical Center in Fayetteville and completed ER rotations with Johns Hopkins University. She’s an author of “Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicine,” which is touted as offering stories of miraculous recoveries, experiences in the ER, and global medical missions that illuminate the transformative power of prayer and unwavering dedication to healing and service, according to a description of the book by its publisher. (Ramaswamy, 11/23)
The New York Times: Trump Picks Dr. Janette Nesheiwat To Be Surgeon General
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. ... 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. (Goldstein, 11/23)
Newsweek: How Janette Nesheiwat And RFK Jr Could Be Split On Vaccines
As the debate over vaccine safety and policy continues to polarize the public, two prominent figures—Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Donald Trump's pick for surgeon general, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick for health and human services secretary—represent starkly different perspectives. Their differing views could see the cabinet divided over the key issue of the vaccine mandate in an administration that has not yet made any firm remarks on whether it supports vaccines. While Nesheiwat has been a proponent of vaccines, Kennedy Jr. has been one of the most vocal critics, often touting conspiracy theories and misinformation. (McHardy, 11/23)
