Trump picks Johns Hopkins surgeon to head FDA: 10 things to know

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Marty Makary, MD, a pancreatic surgeon at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, as commissioner of the FDA, NBC News reported Nov. 22. 

Here are 10 things to know about Dr. Makary and his nomination:

1. Dr. Makary is chief of islet transplant surgery and a professor and public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University. 

2. He served in leadership at the World Health Organization Patient Safety Program. 

3. Dr. Makary is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, part of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. 

4. He has served as a public adviser for the Paragon Health Institute, a conservative healthcare think tank. His current research is focused on "health care transparency and the re-design of health care," according to Paragon's website. 

5. "FDA has lost the trust of Americans, and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator. The Agency needs Dr. Marty Makary, a Highly Respected Johns Hopkins Surgical Oncologist and Health Policy Expert, to course-correct and refocus the Agency," Mr. Trump said on Truth Social, according to NBC News. 

6. Mr. Trump also said that Dr. Makary will be working under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been nominated to lead HHS, and focused on addressing the "childhood chronic disease epidemic." 

7. Dr. Makary regularly appears on Fox News, according to NBC News, and has made controversial statements about COVID-19. He was a proponent of natural immunity and predicted that the U.S. would reach herd immunity by April 2021. He has also claimed that myocarditis, a rare heart condition, is more common after COVID-19 vaccination, which has been debunked by several studies. 

8. Dr. Makary has published over 250 scientific studies and two books. He has also written for the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and USA Today. 

9. He has been a visiting professor at over 25 medical schools and is the recipient of the Nobility in Science Award from the National Pancreas Foundation. 

10. In an appearance on Fox News on Nov. 24, Dr. Makary defended Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Trump's HHS nomination, saying that he was the least "scary" thing happening in the U.S. healthcare system. Paul Offit, MD, a vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said Dr. Makary is not fit for the role, citing his past comments on COVID-19 and his defense of Mr. Kennedy.

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