Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
President-elect Trump picked nominees for some of his key health positions on Friday night, choosing his new CDC director, FDA administrator and surgeon general.
The big picture: His latest picks are largely more conventional than his earlier choices, signaling that there will be some experienced hands to work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at HHS and Dr. Mehmet Oz at CMS.
- The roles will be key to helping to enact Trump's second term health agenda, which could include agency reform and changes to public health policies.
Driving the news: Trump selected Dave Weldon to run the CDC, an internal medicine doctor and former House member from Florida from 1995 through 2009.
- Marty Makary was chosen to lead the Food and Drug Administration. He's a Johns Hopkins professor and surgeon and an adviser at the Paragon Health Institute.
- And Janette Nesheiwat is Trump's selection for surgeon general. She's a medical director at CityMD, a group of urgent care centers in New York, as well as a Fox News contributor.
Zoom in: Trump's statement on Weldon cited his experience serving on the House Appropriations Labor-HHS Subcommittee and House Oversight Committee.
- Weldon was one of the sponsors of a bill that would have banned mercury from vaccines.
- Weldon is currently a professor of biomedical engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology, per his LinkedIn. He also ran for the Senate in Florida in 2012.
- Trump also said Weldon had "successfully worked with the CDC to enact a ban on patents for human embryos," and that he would "prioritize Transparency, Competence, and High Standards at CDC."
Makary has long advocated for reforms to the health care system and gained prominence during the pandemic for his skepticism of certain government COVID-19 responses, including vaccine use.
- Trump's statement on Makary's selection said FDA "has lost the trust of Americans" and "lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator." He said Makary will work with RFK Jr. to "properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our nation's food supply and drugs and biologics."
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional information and to correct the spelling of Janette Nesheiwat's name.
