Indian-American physician Dr. Vivek Murthy is expected to co-chair the coronavirus task force that President-elect Joe Biden will announce on Monday.
Murthy, 43, a native of Karnataka, 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.
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 plan and turn it into an action plan beginning January 20, 2021 “.
The president-elect, however, did not announce who would lead that task force.
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 Murthy as co-chairs of the Healthcare Task Force.
At a fundraiser organized by American Indians in September that Biden addressed, Murthy had said that Biden is the type of person he would like to invite home to dinner.
“Joe Biden is the type of person I would love to take home to dinner with my mom and dad,” Murthy had said in his opening remarks, adding that he would serve himself some homemade ‘Masala Dasa’.
“It is authentic. He’s real And he says what he thinks and that’s something I really love about him … He says what he thinks. It’s honest and true, “he said.
Biden, he said, is a man who generally lives up to his values, and those values reliably center on generosity and community.
“He is who he is,” Murthy said.
In another fundraiser, Murthy said that Biden’s recognition and appreciation for immigrants and communities such as Indian-Americans is forming an incredibly important part of the backbone of the United States of America.
“This is a time for our country when leadership matters, when values matter. When we go to the voting booth, we think about how to build support for the candidate that best reflects our vision, our hopes, and our dreams. Let’s lead with our values. And let’s vote for the person who understands us, “Murthy said, strongly backing Biden.
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.
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