President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday picked doctor and TV personality Mehmet Oz to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
“Dr. Oz will be a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country. He will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget," Trump said.
Is Mehmet Oz A Real Doctor?
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised outside of Philadelphia, Dr Mehmet Oz received his undergraduate degree from Harvard and a joint MD and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School.
Dr. Oz began his medical career at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He later partnered with his colleague Jerry Whitworth to establish the Cardiac Complementary Care Center, which provided a range of treatments for heart disease patients. Oz and Whitworth gained significant media attention after performing a successful heart transplant on Frank Torre, the brother of Joe Torre, the New York Yankees manager during their victorious 1996 World Series season.
In 2001, Dr. Oz became a professor at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Throughout his career, he contributed to the development of several medical devices and heart surgery procedures, including the MitraClip and the left ventricular assist device (LVAD). By 2015, he had performed numerous heart surgeries, cementing his reputation as a skilled cardiac surgeon.
A Career in Politics
Dr. Oz has been actively involved in his local chapter of the Republican Party in New Jersey for many years. In 2018, he was appointed to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition by former President Donald Trump.
In 2022, Oz announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania as a Republican. Following this announcement, he was removed from the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition due to his decision to run for public office.