This story by Jennifer Shutt and Ariana Figueroa appeared on Colorado Newsline on November 24, 2024.
President-elect Donald Trump announced his choices to lead two of the country’s top public health agencies late Friday, as well as his pick for surgeon general.
Former Florida Congressman Dave Weldon will be tapped to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Marty Makary will be nominated for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat was put forward as the next surgeon general.
All three positions require Senate confirmation.
Trump wrote in his announcement for Makary that he would “work under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic.”
Makary is a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. His biography says he “has published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has served on several editorial boards.”
“Dr. Makary served in leadership at the World Health Organization Patient Safety Program and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine,” according to his biography. “Clinically, Dr. Makary is the chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins. He is the recipient of the Nobility in Science Award from the National Pancreas Foundation and has been a visiting professor at over 25 medical schools.”
Makary wrote an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal in February 2021, sharing his prediction that the COVID-19 pandemic would mostly be over by April, which he said was “based on laboratory data, mathematical data, published literature and conversations with experts. But it’s also based on direct observation of how hard testing has been to get, especially for the poor.”
COVID-19 did not end by April 2021. In fact, it went on to kill thousands more Americans.
“Some medical experts privately agreed with my prediction that there may be very little Covid-19 by April but suggested that I not to talk publicly about herd immunity because people might become complacent and fail to take precautions or might decline the vaccine,” Makary wrote at the time. “But scientists shouldn’t try to manipulate the public by hiding the truth. As we encourage everyone to get a vaccine, we also need to reopen schools and society to limit the damage of closures and prolonged isolation. Contingency planning for an open economy by April can deliver hope to those in despair and to those who have made large personal sacrifices.”
In prepared remarks to the House Select Subcommittee on the Covid Pandemic in May 2023, he wrote that “Nothing speaks more to the intellectual dishonesty of public health leaders than their complete dismissal of natural immunity. They never talked about it.”
Trump wrote in his statement announcing Makary as his pick for FDA that the agency had “lost the trust of Americans, and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator.” He added that Makary would “course-correct and refocus the Agency.”
FDA pick spearheaded ban
Weldon was instrumental in codifying into law the “Weldon Patent Ban,” which makes a permanent prohibition on patenting human embryos, something that Trump noted in his statement.
“Dave has successfully worked with the CDC to enact a ban on patents for human embryos,” Trump said in a statement.
In 2011, the ban was signed into law by former President Barack Obama in the America Invents Act, and made permanent after Weldon left Congress. His colleagues named it after him because of his advocacy on the issue.
“In addition to being a Medical Doctor for 40 years, and an Army Veteran, Dave has been a respected conservative leader on fiscal and social issues,” Trump said in a statement.
Weldon, 71, served in Congress from 1995 until 2009, when he retired. He is a former physician and if confirmed by the Senate, will now head a roughly $17 billion agency that is tasked with responding to emerging health threats.
Selection for surgeon general
Trump wrote in his nomination for Nesheiwat that she “is a fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health.”
“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,” Trump added.
According to her biography, Nesheiwat graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and is a double board-certified medical doctor practicing in New York.
She “brings a refreshingly no-nonsense attitude to the latest medical news, breaking down everything you need to know to keep you — and your family — healthy at all times,” according to her website’s biography.
Nesheiwat is the medical director at CityMD, which is a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey.