President-elect Donald Trump announced on Nov. 19 that he will nominate famed television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
In a statement, Trump cited Oz’s work as a physician and heart surgeon, among other talents. He also noted Oz being an alum of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School, the latter of which Trump is an alum.
Trump also mentioned that Oz was a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University.
Trump said Oz will “work closely” with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, “to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.”
The president-elect said Oz will also be tasked with cutting waste and fraud in the agency, which he said makes up “a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire national budget.”
In a statement to media outlets, Trump said Oz will incentivize disease prevention “so we get the best results in the world for every dollar we spend on healthcare in our great country.”
Oz was the host of “The Dr. Oz Show” between 2009 and 2022. The show won nine Daytime Emmy Awards.
Oz, who is of Turkish descent, was the GOP nominee in Pennsylvania for U.S. Senate in 2022, losing to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). Oz was endorsed by Trump.
Trump’s CMS administrator during his first term was Seema Verma, who is known for pushing for the repeal of Obamacare. The GOP failed to do so.
CMS administrator is not part of the Cabinet, but it requires Senate confirmation.
