Tag: Trump Administration

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Environmental Advocate and Health Secretary

This post reviews Robert Kennedy Jr.’s life, highlighting his political lineage and career as an environmental advocate. Confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, he aims to manage a significant agency concerned with public health and welfare. His decisions will directly affect the health and well-being of everyone in our country.

update February 13, 2025

The Senate voted to confirm Kennedy’s nomination as health secretary.

The Senate voted 52 to 48, with all Republicans except Kentucky Senator and former majority leader, Mitch McConnell, supporting the environmental lawyer. Kennedy was sworn in today by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

As I researched Robert Kennedy for this post, I realized he and I are about the same age. We were both grade school kids when his uncle, President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

His was the first presidential election I understood. My parents liked JFK, so I did too.  I listened to his inaugural speech where he spoke words I’ve never forgotten.

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

President John F. Kennedy

His brother Robert served as the Attorney General, although I’m sure I didn’t know what that meant. I don’t remember much about him until he ran for president when Robert Jr. and I were teenagers. It seemed impossible that he too was shot, and killed while campaigning.

Some years later, their younger brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, ran for president. However, he lost the Democratic nomination against incumbent President Jimmy Carter. So, at least for then, there wouldn’t be another President Kennedy—at least not until Robert Jr. ran last year.

There still isn’t another President Kennedy but President Trump nominated Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Senate is expected to confirm him.

This is his official bio on the White House website. I’ve added comments in parentheses and links for more information.

from WhiteHouse.gov

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy, Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s career of public service began in 1985 as an attorney for the environmental nonprofit RiverKeeper. He eventually became one of the most influential environmentalists in the United States, receiving TIME Magazine’s “Hero of the Planet” (1999) and the Sartisky Peace Award. (I could not find a link for Sartisky Peace Award.)

Bobby Kennedy Jr. comes from an illustrious political family. The son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, Bobby Jr. was a lifelong Democrat but became increasingly estranged from the party in the 2010s as it drifted away from its traditional values.

He made his final break on October 9, 2023, when he announced his candidacy as an independent for President of the United States. (He eventually suspended his election campaign, instead endorsed and supported Trump.)

Bobby has spent nearly 40 years fighting corrupt corporations and government agencies. During his tenure at RiverKeeper, he successfully sued dozens of municipalities to force compliance with the Clean Water Act.

He won cases against corporate giants too, including a suit against General Electric for toxic runoff from its corporate jet hangar and a court order against ExxonMobil mandating they clean up tens of millions of gallons of spilled oil in Brooklyn, NY.

Building on the success of the local Riverkeeper model, Bobby co-founded the WaterKeeper Alliance and served as its President for 21 years. Under his direction, it became the world’s largest nonprofit devoted to clean water and now protects 2.7 million miles of waterways with over a million volunteers in the United States and 46 other countries. (According to its website, he does not seem to be involved with the company now.)

end of quoted text
for illustration only, created by AI

Department of Health and Human Services

As Secretary, Kennedy will oversee a vast agency with a huge budget.

What does HHS do? Per the website, the mission is

to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans,

by providing for effective health and human services and

by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services.

man sitting in front of computer monitor at the CDC.
a scientist in a lab working on covid antibodies
a nurse discussing blood pressure with a patient.
FLU VACCINE: We all have a role in protecting each other.
photos and graphic from the Public Health Image Library, CDC

The proposed budget for FY 2025 includes $130.7 billion in discretionary and $1.7 trillion in mandatory proposed budget authority.

(Mandatory spending is required by law, also known as entitlement spending. Examples are Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, and interest on debt. Discretionary spending is approved by Congress each year. )

You can review the organizational chart here but you’ve probably heard the most about these agencies

  • CDC-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • FDA-Food and Drug Administration
  • CMS-Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
  • NIH-National Institutes of Health

I reviewed the appointees to some of these in this post

Trump’s Key Health Appointments: HHS, FDA, CDC Leadership Changes

President-elect Trump has appointed key figures for health leadership, including Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Three physicians—Dr. Marty Makary for the FDA, Dr. Dave Weldon for the CDC, and Dr. Janette Nesheiwat as Surgeon General—were also nominated. However, their nominations faced changes and withdrawals.

Keep reading

Featured Image-National Institutes of Health campus

The featured image for this post is of the James H. Shannon Building (Building One), NIH campus, Bethesda, MD Credit: Lydia Polimeni, National Institutes of Health.

“Since President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Bethesda campus from the front steps, Building 1 has been the focal point for NIH leadership.”

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Trump’s Key Health Appointments: HHS, FDA, CDC Leadership Changes

President-elect Trump has appointed key figures for health leadership, including Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Three physicians—Dr. Marty Makary for the FDA, Dr. Dave Weldon for the CDC, and Dr. Janette Nesheiwat as Surgeon General—were also nominated. However, their nominations faced changes and withdrawals.

updated May 25, 2025

President-elect Trump has been busy appointing people to his cabinet and other key leadership positions. He has chosen Robert Kennedy, Jr. to serve in his cabinet as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS is a vast department overseeing multiple areas of health and wellness with a $2.86 trillion budget for 2024.

I’m sharing an article by journalists Jennifer Shutt and Ariana Figueroa,
about three other appointees to key health positions.

Except for Kennedy, these appointees are physicians . I am not familiar with any of them. They appear to have well-established medical careers and solid credentials. I plan to explore their views more thoroughly after reading this article.

3 BRANCHES OF U.S. GOVERNMENT-legislative, executive, judicial
3 BRANCHES OF U.S. GOVERNMENT, FROM usa.gov, public domain

Trump unveils his lineup for FDA, CDC and surgeon general

Oklahoma Voice, November 25, 2024

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump will appoint three physicians for key government health roles.

Former Florida Congressman Dave Weldon will be tapped to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Marty Makary will be nominated for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat was put forward as the next Surgeon General.

All three positions require Senate confirmation.

Dr. Makary-Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, and medical devices;

and by ensuring the safety of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.

FDA website

Trump wrote in his announcement for Makary that he would “work under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic.”

Makary is a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. His biography says he “has published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has served on several editorial boards.”

“Dr. Makary served in leadership at the World Health Organization Patient Safety Program and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Clinically, Dr. Makary is the chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins. He received the Nobility in Science Award from the National Pancreas Foundation and has been a visiting professor at over 25 medical schools.”

Makary wrote an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal in February 2021, sharing his prediction that the COVID-19 pandemic would mostly be over by April 2021.

“Some medical experts privately agreed with my prediction that there may be very little COVID-19 by April but suggested that I not talk publicly about herd immunity because people might become complacent and fail to take precautions or might decline the vaccine,” Makary wrote at the time.

“But scientists shouldn’t try to manipulate the public by hiding the truth. As we encourage everyone to get a vaccine, we also need to reopen schools and society to limit the damage of closures and prolonged isolation. Contingency planning for an open economy by April can deliver hope to those in despair and to those who have made large personal sacrifices.”

In prepared remarks to the House Select Subcommittee on the Covid Pandemic in May 2023, he wrote that

“Nothing speaks more to the intellectual dishonesty of public health leaders than their complete dismissal of natural immunity. They never talked about it.”

Trump wrote in his statement announcing Makary as his pick for FDA that he would “course-correct and refocus the Agency.”

Dr. Martin Adel Makary, was confirmed on March 25, 2025 by the U.S. Senate as the 27th Commissioner of Food and Drugs. In this role, Dr. Makary oversees the full breadth of the FDA portfolio and execution of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other applicable laws.Apr 8, 2025

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to coordinate with the World Health Organization (WHO), federal, state and local public health partners, and clinicians in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. CDC is closely monitoring the situation and working 24/7 to provide updates.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to coordinate with the World Health Organization (WHO), federal, state and local public health partners, and clinicians in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. CDC is closely monitoring the situation and working 24/7 to provide updates
credit James Gathany, public domain

Dr. Weldon-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDC works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.

CDC website

Weldon was instrumental in codifying into law the “Weldon Patent Ban,” which makes a permanent prohibition on patenting human embryos, something that Trump noted in his statement.

“Dave has successfully worked with the CDC to enact a ban on patents for human embryos,” Trump said in a statement.

In 2011, the ban was signed into law by former President Barack Obama in the America Invents Act, and made permanent after Weldon left Congress. His colleagues named it after him because of his advocacy on the issue.

“In addition to being a Medical Doctor for 40 years, and an Army Veteran, Dave has been a respected conservative leader on fiscal and social issues,” Trump said in a statement.

Weldon, 71, served in Congress from 1995 until 2009, when he retired. He is a former physician and if confirmed by the Senate, will now head a roughly $17 billion agency that is tasked with responding to emerging health threats.

update

President Trump withdrew Dr.Weldon’s nomination.

As of May 21, 2025, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is Susan Monarez, PhD. She was nominated by President Trump in March 2025 and confirmed by the Senate in April 2025. 

Dr. Neshwiwat-Surgeon General

The U.S. Surgeon General is the Nation’s Doctor, providing Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury.

The Surgeon General oversees the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, an elite group of over 6,000 uniformed officers who are public health professionals.

The USPHS mission is to protect, promote, and advance the health of our nation.

Trump wrote in his nomination for Nesheiwat that she “is a fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health.”

“She is committed to ensuring that Americans have access to affordable, quality healthcare, and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health to live longer, healthier lives,” Trump added. 

According to her biography, Nesheiwat graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and is a double board-certified medical doctor practicing in New York.

She “brings a refreshingly no-nonsense attitude to the latest medical news, breaking down everything you need to know to keep you- and your family- healthy at all times,” (her website).

Nesheiwat is the medical director at CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. 

update

As of May 25, 2025, Dr. Nesheiwat’s nomination has been withdrawn.

In her place is Dr.Casey Means. Dr. Means is a physician, health entrepreneur, and author who is known for her work on the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. She has also been a vocal critic of traditional medicine and has promoted alternative health treatments. 

This story is republished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and X.

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Dr. Aletha

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