Dr. Vivek Murthy had already served as the youngest Surgeon General appointed by former President Barack Obama.
Indian-American physician Dr. Vivek Murthy, who is from Mandya, is expected to co-chair the coronavirus task force that President-elect Joe Biden will announce on Monday. Dr. Murthy’s family hails from the Mandya district of Karnataka, he was named the 19th Surgeon General of the United States by then-President Barack Obama in 2014.
Born in the UK, he was the youngest to hold the position at the age of 37. Later, the Trump administration asked him to resign. Prior to his appointment as Surgeon General, he was appointed as part of the advisory group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative Public Health in 2011.
In his illustrious career, he has served as Vice Admiral of the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service that worked to contain the Ebola and Zika viruses. Along with his sister Rashmi, he has co-founded a peer-to-peer HIV / AIDS education program in India and the United States.
He was also instrumental in co-founding the nonprofit Doctors for America, which advocated for the creation of a high-quality, affordable health care system for all.
According to one report, Dr. Murthy visits his Hallegere hometown of Maddur taluk every year and comes from a family with political connections. His grandfather HT Narayan Shetty was known to be a close associate of the late Karnataka Chief Minister D Devaraj Urs. Her father, Dr HN Lakshmi Narasimha Murthy, is also a doctor and a former student of Mysore Medical College and had emigrated to the UK. However, she eventually moved to Florida with her entire family after briefly staying in Canada for a brief period.
The report said the family runs the Scope Foundation, which is associated with many charitable activities, including free medical camps in the region. Among other things, the organization also donated many computers to government schools in nearby schools.
Biden, in his victory speech in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday night, said: “On Monday, I will appoint a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden-Harris COVID-19 plan. and turn it into an action. project that begins on January 20, 2021. However, the president-elect did not announce who would lead that working group.
The Washington Post said the task force would be co-chaired by Dr. Murthy, a former Surgeon General, and David Kessler, a former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
The task force could start meeting in a few days, the newspaper said. In his victory speech, Biden said the plan will be based on the foundations of science. It will be built on compassion, empathy, and concern. I will spare no effort or commitment to reverse this pandemic, he said.
During the campaign period, Murthy emerged as one of Biden’s top advisers on public health and coronavirus issues. Many believe he could end up being the Secretary of Health in the Biden administration.
In May, the Biden Campaign appointed Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Dr. Murthy as co-chairs of the Health Task Force. At a fundraiser hosted by American Indians in September that Biden addressed, Murthy had said that Biden is the kind of person he would like to invite over to dinner.
“Joe Biden is the type of person that I would love to take home for dinner with my mom and dad,” Murthy said in his opening remarks, adding that homemade masala dosas would be served, “said Dr. Murthy.
“It is authentic. He is real And he speaks his mind and that’s something I love about him. Say what you have in mind. It is honest and true, ”he added. The United States is currently the worst-affected nation in the world by the pandemic after it emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan last year.
The United States has reported 9,849,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 237,000 people have died, according to the latest statistics from Johns Hopkins University.
(With PTI inputs)
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