President-elect Trump has made his picks for three top health care positions in his next administration.

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Chris Unger/Getty Images

In a series of high-profile announcements, President-elect Trump made his picks for three top health care positions in the new administration on Friday evening.

Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary is his pick for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. He wants former Rep. Dave Weldon, a Republican from Florida, to become director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat is poised to become the next surgeon general.

Trump made all three announcements on Truth Social and in press releases. Together, these choices would help the new president shift the priorities of agencies that play a critical role in public health. But the choices also bring controversy.

Dr. Marty Makary for FDA Commissioner

Dr. Marty Makary in 2018.

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A surgical oncologist at Johns Hopkins University, Makary’s selection for the top job at the FDA is not unexpected given his work with the first Trump administration on issues such as surprise medical billings. He has also recently issued statements expressing support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” platform.

Earlier this year, Makary appeared alongside Kennedy at a Congressional roundtable on health and nutrition, where he criticized federal health agencies for not prioritizing chronic diseases, saying, “The biggest perpetrator of misinformation is the U.S. government with the food pyramid. “

“We have the most overmedicated and sickest population in the world and no one is talking about the underlying causes,” he said. “We have poisoned our food supply.”

In the announcement, Trump promised that Makary would work with Kennedy to “properly evaluate the harmful chemicals poisoning our nation’s food supply, and the drugs and biologics being given to our nation’s youth, so that we can finally tackle the epidemic of chronic childhood diseases.”

A frequent guest on Fox News, Makary has written several books on healthcare, is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has a master’s degree in public health from Harvard. He became known for his writing and research on topics including the high costs of health care, medical errors and the need for more transparency in medicine.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he also emerged as an outspoken critic of several aspects of the public health response, particularly vaccine mandates and what he called the “complete rejection of natural immunity.”

He expressed support for lockdowns early in the pandemic and encouraged universal masking. But in subsequent years, he became increasingly outspoken against certain COVID-related decisions by federal health agencies. He called the CDC under the Biden administration “the most political CDC in history.”

Dr. Dave Weldon for CDC director

Dave Weldon, while serving in Congress, in 2005.

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Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Trump’s pick for the CDC, Weldon is a physician, Army veteran and Republican who served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2009.

In Weldon’s announcement, Trump said: “Americans have lost confidence in the CDC and in our federal health authorities, which have engaged in censorship, data manipulation and misinformation. Given the current chronic health crisis in our country, the CDC must step up and correct past mistakes to focus on disease prevention.”

Weldon is the first candidate for CDC director to require Senate confirmation, due to a law passed in 2022 that requires the role to receive such confirmation.

“He’s a well-trained internist. He practiced medicine,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, head of the American Public Health Association. “He does not appear to have any traditional public health training, but we will learn more if he is confirmed by the Senate.”

As a congressman from Florida, Weldon “worked with the CDC to implement a ban on human embryo patents,” Trump said in his Truth Social post. Weldon also introduced protections for healthcare workers and organizations that do not provide or assist with abortions. The clause is known as the Weldon Amendment and has been added to the annual HHS spending bill in Congress since 2005.

The Weldon Amendment and related policies apply to public funds. But according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, it “also encourages health insurance plans, health care facilities, and medical providers to deny abortion services and coverage…often under the guise of protecting ‘conscience’ or ‘religious freedom’ . ‘ “

Trump said Weldon would “proudly restore the CDC to its true purpose, working to end the chronic disease epidemic” and “prioritize transparency, competence and high standards.”

Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for general surgeon

Dr. Janette Nesheiwat attends the 2023 FOX Nation Patriot Awards at The Grand Ole Opry on November 16, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee.

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As with several of his Cabinet picks, Trump’s new surgeon general comes with experience at Fox News.

Nesheiwat is a medical contributor to the network and is the author of Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicinea book described on her website as “a vivid Christian memoir” that chronicles her experiences during the pandemic and beyond. She is also medical director at CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey – experience she has leveraged to sell her own line of vitamin supplements.

Trump praised Nesheiwat’s work “on the front lines in New York City” during the pandemic and her work in the aftermath of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Joplin tornadoes.

During her appearances on Fox News, she emphasized the benefits of vaccination against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

“She is committed to ensuring Americans have access to affordable, quality health care and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health so they can live longer, healthier lives,” Trump said in his announcement.

Jane Greenhalgh, Scott Hensley, Pien Huang and Diane Webber contributed to this report.