For the first time since July 2013, the United States has a surgeon general again.
After being nominated by President Barack Obama more than a year ago, the Senate finally voted to confirm Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, as the new surgeon general, according to NPR. The finally Senate vote was 51-43.
Dr. Murthy attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., for his undergraduate degree before going on to Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. He completed his residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston in internal medicine in 2006.
In addition to practicing medicine at Brigham and Women's, Dr. Murthy cofounded an HIV education organization called VISIONS Worldwide, a clinical trials company called TrialNetworks, and Doctors for America.
Although some senators questioned 37-year-old Dr. Murthy's inexperience, his most emphatic opposition came from the National Rifle Association, according to a Washington Post report.
The NRA claimed Dr. Murthy would poise a threat to the rights of gun owners based in part on a tweet he sent out in 2012 that read, "Tired of politicians playing politics w/guns, putting lives at risk b/c they're scared of NRA. Guns are a health care issue."
Despite the tweet, Dr. Murthy stated earlier this year that if confirmed, he would focus on public health issues such as obesity and wouldn't use the office as a platform for gun control, according to the report.
Rear Admiral Boris D. Lushniak has filled the position or surgeon general on an interim basis since the summer of 2013 when former Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin left the post.