WASHINGTON: Donald Trump announced on Tuesday (Nov 19) that he was appointing Mehmet Oz, a former surgeon and TV celebrity known as “Dr Oz”, to lead the United States’ massive public health insurance program.
The 64-year-old heart surgeon was championed on daytime television by Oprah Winfrey before he entered politics with an unsuccessful bid for a Senate seat in 2022.
Oz is the latest of Trump’s eye-catching nominations to key positions, including Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary, vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as health secretary and billionaire Elon Musk to head a government cost-cutting unit.
“America is facing a Healthcare Crisis and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr Oz to Make America Healthy Again,” the president-elect posted on his Truth Social platform.
