Like many of President-elect Donald Trump’s selections for prominent posts in his new administration, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat is drawing praise and criticism as the potential next surgeon general.
“Dr. Nesheiwat is a fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health,” Trump said in a statement. “She is committed to ensuring that Americans have access to affordable, quality healthcare, and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health to live longer, healthier lives.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Nesheiwat will be in charge of “providing Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury,” according to a job description from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Many are enthusiastic about her selection.
“The role of the surgeon general is to be a key government spokesperson on public health issues,” Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, one of the most frequently quoted experts on viral CFS, fibromyalgia, energy, sleep and pain, told Newsmax. “This requires that they be knowledgeable, experienced, and able to communicate with the public. Dr. Janette Nesheiwat fits all three of these admirably.
“She has extensive experience in both family and emergency medicine, including day-to-day care and helping in disaster relief. As an author and TV commentator, she is also a skilled communicator.”
Nesheiwat is the author of Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicine, a book described on her website as "a vivid Christian memoir" that discusses her active role during the pandemic and after. She's also medical director at CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey and has developed her own line of vitamin supplements.
She is an advocate for a more natural approach to health, putting her seemingly in line with Trump’s choice for the head of the Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I was always telling my patients who were unwell drink some tea, take some vitamin B12 and vitamin C. I found myself repeating my all-natural regimen to my patients over and over,” Nesheiwat said. “That’s how I came up with BC Boost. Although I am a doctor, I am not quick to prescribe drugs unless I feel necessary as we want to put into our body the most natural wholesome ingredients.”
Trump praised Nesheiwat's work "on the front lines in New York City" during the pandemic and her work in the wake of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the Joplin tornadoes.
During her media appearances, she has emphasized the benefits of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, says NPR.
“She has impressed me as being very well informed well expressed,” says Judy Kuriansky, a professor at Columbia University and a well-known author and psychologist. “I have agreed with all the medical advice that she has given, and even though I’m not a medical doctor, it has synced with what I know from being in the health field for these decades. She seems measured and logical.”
Nesheiwat also understands the challenges people face, notes Teitelbaum.
After her father died, she was raised by her mom, who worked as a nurse while raising five children. As a child, she also volunteered with her mother at a children’s hospital, helping other children her age who were ill and homeless.
“From my own experience growing up in a community of concentration camp survivors, I understand how this type of experience can leave one dedicated to service and healing. She obviously got her start on developing compassion very early,” Teitelbaum said. “That was what drove her into medicine. Where she chose a path of service. Her decisions have shown that when it comes down to a choice between guiding the public and lining her pockets, she has chosen the former.”
Nesheiwat, though, has her critics, particularly for her opinions and actions during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The 48-year-old New York native has been criticized for her advocacy of mask mandates in schools, praising Facebook’s suppression of COVID-19 vaccine criticism and participation in videos with dancing nurses urging the public to wear masks and “shelter in place.”
Teitelbaum, however, observes that Nesheiwat “has the backbone to speak the truth.” He recalls that when COVID-19 struck she had the courage to speak against routinely immunizing healthy children and recognized the danger of closing schools for as long as we did.
“She also recognizes that pharmaceutical and surgical medicine are simply two tools in a very large healthcare toolkit,” he adds. “Despite the medical monopoly attempting to suppress everything else, she has embraced these two tools while also recognizing the importance of nutrition.
“With an openness and expertise suggested by her own nutritional supplements, she clearly recognizes that healing goes way beyond just medications and a scalpel.”
If approved by the Senate, Nesheiwat will succeed Dr. Vivek Murthy, becoming the fourth female surgeon general to serve in the post.