President-elect Donald Trump rounded out his health team on Friday night.
He chose Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Republican congressman from Brevard County, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a general practitioner, to be surgeon general; and Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon, as head of the Food and Drug Administration.
Trump previously said he would nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. He also selected Dr. Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. As of Sunday, Trump had not selected a nominee to head the National Institutes of Health, but Stanford University physician and economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is reportedly the top candidate.
Weldon, a medical doctor and Army veteran, is a self-described “pro-life" Republican. He served 14 years in the House, representing District 15, which at the time was made up of Indian River County, most of Brevard County, most of Osceola County, and a small portion of Polk County.
Legislation he introduced more than 20 years ago outlawed human cloning. He also brokered a deal with lawmakers to bar patents on human organisms, including genetically engineered embryos.
He introduced a bill that would give responsibility for the nation's vaccine safety to an independent agency within HHS, removing most vaccine safety research from the CDC.
Weldon also advocated against the removal of the feeding tube for Terri Schiavo, a Pinellas County woman whose family battle over her vegetative state turned into a national debate.
Weldon’s nomination is likely to placate some anti-abortion advocates, who have been concerned about Trump’s nomination of Kennedy, a longtime Democrat and proponent of abortion rights, as the nation’s top health official.
Weldon went back into private practice after retiring from his congressional seat in 2008. Earlier this year, he lost in a GOP primary for a seat in the Florida Legislature.
If he’s confirmed, he’ll be in charge of more than 13,000 employees and nearly 13,000 other contract workers.
“I am thrilled to announce that former Congressman, Dr. Dave Weldon, is nominated to serve as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” Trump said in a press release posted on Truth Social.
Makary is a surgeon and author who gained national attention for opposing vaccine mandates and some other public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, is the latest in a string of Trump nominees who have declared the US health system “broken," vowing a shakeup.
Some of Makary’s views align closely with Kennedy.
In books and articles, Makary has decried the overprescribing of drugs, the use of pesticides on foods and the undue influence of pharmaceutical and insurance companies over doctors and government regulators, points that Kennedy has also harped on for years.
Trump said Makary, trained as a surgeon and cancer specialist, “will restore FDA to the gold standard of scientific research, and cut the bureaucratic red tape at the agency to make sure Americans get the medical cures and treatments they deserve."
The 18,000 employees of the FDA are responsible for the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs, vaccines and medical devices as well as a swath of other consumer goods, including food, cosmetics and vaping products.
Altogether those products represent an estimated 20% of US consumer spending annually, or $2.6 trillion.
Makary gained prominence on Fox News and other conservative outlets for his contrarian views during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nesheiwat will oversee 6,000 U.S. Public Health Service Corps members if the Republican-controlled Senate approves her nomination as the surgeon general.
She is a medical director for an urgent care company in New York. She appears regularly on Fox News and has expressed frequent support for Trump, sharing photos of them together on her social media pages.
Surgeons general also have the power to issue advisories, warning of public health threats in the US. Those advisories can influence how the government, public and medical community respond to health crises in the country.
