CNN Doctor Who Speculated on Trump Diagnosis Scrutinized

A medical doctor who speculated about President Donald Trump's recent diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency during an interview on CNN has come under fire over the relevance of her professional background.

The White House announced last week that Trump was recently diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, an issue that affects blood flow in the leg veins and occurs in about 1 in 20 adults, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Chris Pernell, who graduated from the Duke University School of Medicine and completed her residency at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, commented on Trump's diagnosis during an interview with CNN last week.

"It is a disease that is progressive," she said. "And what that means is that if there aren't conservative treatments, elevation, compression, medication, if needed, to treat accompanying ulcers or skin changes, it can worsen and actually put a person at risk for deep venous thrombosis."

Pernell added, "If a person is sitting or standing for prolonged amounts of time, you can get chronic venous insufficiency, and while it is not life threatening, it can be debilitating. You can develop ulcers in addition to skin discoloration. And if a person develops ulcers, you want to make sure those ulcers aren't infected."

The Washington Free Beacon reports that Pernell appears to have focused on "equity and inclusion" during her medical career and not as a practicing physician, working at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, as their first "director of equity and inclusion," and is now director of the NAACP's Center for Health Equity.

Pernell defended her medical background and professional focus in a statement: "As a board certified preventative medicine and public health physician and fellow, my practice is firmly rooted in population health, health equity, and health systems transformation. I am expertly trained in general preventive medicine and public health, having completed a residency at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. My credentials and professional background have been demonstrated through over a decade of experience in community health, workplace health, and public health. My biography and curriculum vitae are public knowledge."

The Free Beacon also describes Pernell as an "apostle" of a church movement that her brother, Timothy Pernell Jr., founded called Bet Hashem YHWH and that he has previously described Trump as "a pedophile and a rapist and an antichrist," and said, "White evangelicals have done the work of Satan and attempted to destroyed [sic] America."

Pernell did not appear to comment on her ties to her brother's church movement in her emailed statement.