Surgeon General Vivek Murthy out at Trump’s demand
After reportedly refusing to resign, Vivek Murthy, MD, is out of his Surgeon General post at the Trump administration’s request and Deputy Surgeon General Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams stepped in as acting Surgeon General, according to HHS.
Prior to her role as deputy, Trent-Adams was chief nurse officer of the U.S. Public Health Services Commissioned Corps, worked in the HIV/AIDS Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration, served as a nurse officer in the U.S. Army and was a university research nurse.
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Murthy was appointed Surgeon General in 2014 and faced the ongoing opioid and prescription painkiller problem, derided gun violence as a public health issue, cautioned about e-cigarettes, and worked with the Commissioned Corps on Ebola, Zika, and the Flint water crisis.
“As my colleague Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams takes over as Acting Surgeon General, know that our nation is in capable and compassionate hands,” Murthy wrote in a Facebook post Friday night.
Murthy will continue working with the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
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