A prominent doctor of Indian-origin, who heads a group that promotes Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, could become the next U.S. Surgeon General with President Barack Obama planning to nominate him to the post.
President Obama on Thursday announced his intention to nominate Dr. Vivek Hallegere Murthy to the top administration post.
Dr. Murthy, if confirmed by the Senate, will be the youngest in the country’s history to assume the post.
He will replace Regina Benjamin, who was appointed by Mr. Obama in 2009. She left her post last summer.
Co-Founder and President of Doctors for America, Dr. Murthy is a Hospitalist Attending Physician and Instructor in Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School.
Supports Obamacare
Doctors for America is a group of 15,000 physicians and medical students that has rallied behind ‘Obamacare’.
“I am confident that these outstanding individuals will greatly serve the American people in their new roles and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come,” President Obama said in a statement.
The move has been hailed by the influential Indian-American physician community. In 2011, Dr. Murthy was appointed as a member of the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative and Public Health.
