President Barack Obama, who has nominated more Indian-Americans to important administrative positions than his predecessors, has now picked Dr Vivek Hallegere Murthy for the key post of US Surgeon General.
An alumnus of the prestigious Yale and Harvard universities, the 36-year-old Murthy has been a strong supporter of "Obamacare", the US President's ambitious health-care initiative that is currently dogged by implementation problems. An Obama acolyte right from the time he plunged into the 2008 White House race, Murthy is co-founder and president of "Doctors for America", which began as "Doctors for Obama" bringing together some 10,000 physicians and medical students in support of his election campaign.
With the passage of "Obamacare" in 2009, Murthy's group relaunched itself as an advocacy group for the Affordable Care Act. The group now has more than 16,000 doctors and medical students spearheading the cause across the US. Given this attribute in the face of intense Republican opposition to "Obamacare", Murthy could be up against problems when his nomination comes up for Senate confirmation. After all, Murthy's organization not only filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case on the law, but also visited the Republican National Convention to promote it.
Announcing his intent to nominate Murthy for the Surgeon General post, along with six others for key slots in his administration, Obama said, "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." The Surgeon General serves for a four-year term and is America's top spokesperson on public health issues. If confirmed by the Senate, Murthy would replace acting Surgeon General Boris lushniak.