Dr. Sanjay Gupta? Next Surgeon General? Options

[virilevocalist]

Obama Wants Journalist Gupta for Surgeon General

By Howard Kurtz
President-elect Barack Obama has offered the job of surgeon general to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and correspondent for CNN and CBS, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

Gupta has told administration officials that he wants the job, and the final vetting process is under way. He has asked for a few days to figure out the financial and logistical details of moving his family from Atlanta to Washington but is expected to accept the offer.

When reached for comment today, Gupta did not deny the account but declined to comment.

The offer followed a two-hour Chicago meeting in November with Obama, who said that Gupta could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy advice, the sources said. Gupta later spoke with Tom Daschle, Obama's White House health czar and nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, and other advisers to the president-elect.

The Michigan-born son of parents who were born in India, Gupta has always been drawn to health policy. He was a White House fellow in the late 1990s, writing speeches and crafting policy for Hillary Clinton. His appointment would give the administration a prominent official of South Asian descent and a skilled television spokesman.

Gupta, who hosts "House Call" on CNN, has discussed the job offer with his bosses at CBS and CNN to make sure he could be released from his contractual obligations, the sources said.

His role as journalist and physician have sometimes overlapped. During the 2003 Iraq invasion, Gupta was embedded with a Navy unit called Devil Docs and, while covering its mission, performed brain surgery five times, the first of which was on a 2-year-old Iraqi boy.

Gupta's only hesitation in taking the post is said to involve the financial impact on his pregnant wife and two children if he gives up his lucrative medical and journalistic careers. But he is expected to accept the position within days.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail...st_for_sur.html

Well, he's first and foremost a neurosurgeon before he's a journalist. I read the comments and a lot of people were faulting him for being tied up with CNN. Unless I see some post with SUCCESSFUL character assassination, then I'm totally excited to see the first South Asian in the candidacy for Surgeon General.

[mavrick_45]

we have a Dr. Gupta working at my hospital

[virilevocalist]

Sure, I'm glad to see that he's doing so well, but THIS is just ridiculous.

[DAI World Order]

this guy is also a part time Bollywood director. j/k

who are the other candidates for this job?

[virilevocalist]

Yeah, it must suck to have the same name as a plagiarizing, actress molesting piece of shit.

There was some noname doctor, I think. But he was nominated just because he's the older brother of Cincinnati NAACP President Christopher Smitherman. Surgeon General is mostly a PR Job, right? Would it make sense to hire an unknown? Well I guess the administration didn't think so either, so I think they're going ahead with Gupta's senate confirmation hearings.

[Stovila]

Not Iryu?