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Surgeon general, NIH head named by White House

President Bush made progress in filling longstanding leaderships gaps by announcing two key appointments -- Richard Carmona, MD, as surgeon general, and Elias Zerhouni, MD, as head of the NIH.

By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. April 15, 2002.

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Washington -- President Bush reached into the Arizona medical community to select his nominee for surgeon general. He chose Richard Carmona, MD, a professor of surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson and a 1993 Physician of the Year for Pima County. The official announcement was made on March 26.

A high school dropout from New York City, Dr. Carmona made an about-face after a stint as a medic and weapons specialist in Vietnam. He has spent the years since making up for lost time.

Aside from his medical achievements, Dr. Carmona is also a member of the Pima County SWAT team and received a Top Cop award from the National Assn. of Police Organizations in 2000.

On the same day, President Bush also made official the rumored nomination of Elias Zerhouni, MD, to head the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Zerhouni, a radiologist, is executive vice dean of Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson praised Dr. Zerhouni's "track record of bringing together the best minds from across the medical spectrum and asking them to think beyond the existing bounds of knowledge."

Jordan J. Cohen, MD, president of the Assn. of American Medical Colleges, also praised the nomination of Dr. Zerhouni. "I am confident that he will provide the kind of scientific leadership needed as the fifteenth director of the NIH -- the world's premier biomedical research institution," Dr. Cohen said.

Both nominations now must be confirmed by the Senate. [...]