Who is Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump’s pick to lead Medicare?

President-elect Donald Trump announced the nomination of celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 20, marking another unconventional addition to what has been dubbed his “chaos cabinet.”

“America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again,” Trump said in his statement of nomination.

Who is Dr. Oz?

Dr. Oz, 63, rose to prominence as the host of The Dr. Oz Show, which aired from 2009 to 2022 and won nine Daytime Emmy Awards.

Born on June 11, 1960, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Turkish immigrant parents, Oz began his medical career with residencies in general and cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

A graduate of Harvard College, with both an M.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, he has authored over 400 medical publications and served as a professor of surgery at Columbia University.

His medical career took a turn toward the public sphere in the early 2000s with appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which led to his own eponymous program.

However, his public health advocacy has not been without controversy.

Critics have long accused Oz of promoting unproven treatments and weight-loss supplements on his television show —which Oz has defended by citing free speech and a commitment to holistic health approaches, including meditation and acupuncture.

He made his debut in politics in 2022, running as a Republican for a US Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

Despite Trump’s endorsement, he was defeated at the time, a loss many attributed to his perceived detachment from Pennsylvania voters.

What will his role entail?

If confirmed by the Senate, Oz will begin to lead the federal agency responsible for providing health coverage to over 160 million Americans, starting in January.

The former surgeon’s new role involves collaborating with Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to tackle what Trump described as “the illness industrial complex and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake,” using a critical term referring to what he sees as a profit-driven network of pharmaceutical and medical corporations.

Oz will reduce “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.

During his previous term, Trump proposed substantial spending cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in every budget he submitted, according to The Washington Post.

Trump has already vowed to implement sweeping reductions in federal spending, positioning this as a key priority for his administration in his incoming term.