Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Well-known Indian-American physician Dr. Vivek Hallegere Murthy is returning as the Surgeon-General of the United States after his appointment by President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday.
He had served in the same capacity under the then US President, Barack Obama (2014-17).
The 43-year-old Dr. Murthy, a former Vice Admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, was the 19th Surgeon-General of the United States in the Obama years at White House.
Now, he will reprise his role as the 21st Surgeon-General as well. The President-elect recently announced his picks for the health team, to be led by Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
As Surgeon-General, Dr. Murthy will have his immediate task cut out given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US. He will be one of Biden’s closest advisers on containing the virus, besides handling the government’s public outreach.
Dr Murthy has over two decades of experience serving as a physician and research scientist.
Born on July 10, 1977, in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, Dr. Murthy was brought up in Miami, US, where his parents moved when he was three years old. His parents, who were also medical practitioners, hail from Karnataka, where his grandfather was a poor farmer.
In 1995, while still a student at Harvard, Dr. Murthy co-founded Visions Worldwide with his sister Rashmi, a non-profit group dedicated to educating people in India and the United States on AIDS and HIV issues. In 1997, he co-founded the Swasthya Community Health Partnership to train women as community health workers in rural India.
In his first tenure as the Surgeon-General, Dr. Murthy had focused on drug and alcohol addiction, besides promoting a healthy lifestyle among the public. He launched efforts to increase physical activity in communities across the country. He also advocated vaccination among children.
Earlier, Dr. Murthy was appointed as one of Joe Biden’s top three advisers on tackling the coronavirus ahead of the November 3 Presidential election.