President-elect Donald Trump's HHS appointees represent a broad spectrum of healthcare perspectives and are poised to significantly influence public health, pharmaceuticals and health systems.
With a $1.8 trillion budget in 2024, the department's leadership will have the authority to direct policy, allocate resources, and oversee pivotal agencies — including the CDC, FDA, CMS and NIH — affecting the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans
Appointments
HHS
1. Mr. Trump announced in November 2024 that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew to President John F. Kennedy, is his pick for HHS Secretary. Mr. Kennedy will need to secure Senate confirmation for the role.
Prior to entering politics, Mr. Kennedy spent time working on children's welfare and environmental causes. He ran for president as an independent prior to dropping out and throwing his support behind Mr. Trump.
Mr. Kennedy's stance on vaccines has stirred controversy in the past, where he has publicly questioned vaccine efficacy and safety, specifically pertaining to claims that link autism to vaccines, which has been disproven by scientific evidence, The New York Times reported. In a November interview with MSNBC, Mr. Kennedy said he has "never been antivaccine" and that he will not take them away. "People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information," he said.
Mr. Kennedy has also identified chronic disease as a critical priority for reform, noting that it accounts for over $1 trillion in U.S. healthcare costs annually and calling for a national emergency declaration on chronic disease.
Mr. Kennedy's vision includes addressing the influence of the pharmaceutical and food industries and their contribution to chronic illness. He has proposed reforms targeting food additives, pesticides, and environmental health risks, as well as overhauls of agencies like the CDC and FDA. He has been vocal about the impact of ultra-processed foods on national obesity and diabetes rates, suggesting a shift in policy to support healthier dietary options and preventive measures. More of Mr. Kennedy's healthcare positions are outlined here.
2. Jim O'Neill, who served as the principal associate deputy secretary of HHS during the George W. Bush administration, is Mr. Trump's pick for deputy secretary of HHS. Mr. O'Neill was also CEO of SENS Research Foundation, where he focused on regenerative medicine.
3. On Jan. 14, Politico reported that Heather Flick has been selected as HHS chief of staff. She was a former senior agency official during the first Trump term and will likely serve as the point of contact for controversial issues, such as abortion pills and tobacco products.
4. In December, Politico reported that John Brooks will serve as the leader for Mr. Trump's HHS landing team. Mr. Brooks, a former senior Medicare official from Mr. Trump's first term, later served as an adviser to former HHS Secretary Alex Azar on drug pricing reform.
CMS
5. Within HHS, Mr. Trump has nominated Mehmet Oz, MD, to serve as CMS administrator, overseeing the country's Medicare and Medicaid programs in a role that requires Senate confirmation.
Dr. Oz, known as a television personality and professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University, has been a vocal supporter of Medicare Advantage. He has previously backed expanding the program to all Americans through a "Medicare Advantage for All" model.
6. On Jan. 14, The Washington Post reported that Mr. Trump is likely to select former Senate staffer Stephanie Carlton, RN, as chief of staff to Dr. Oz. Healthcare entrepreneur Chris Klomp is expected to lead the Medicare program, while Abe Sutton, who served in the first Trump administration, is likely to be chosen to lead the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.
FDA
7. In November, Mr. Trump nominated Marty Makary, MD, to head the FDA, which requires Senate confirmation.
Dr. Makary is a pancreatic surgeon and professor at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, and chief medical officer at Sesame, a telehealth startup founded in 2020 that offers virtual urgent care and remote prescribing of GLP-1s. In the past, Dr. Makary has written about the overprescribing of drugs and the use of pesticides on food, according to CBS News. While not opposed to vaccines, he has publicly raised questions about masking and childhood vaccinations.
CDC
8. Mr. Trump nominated David Weldon, MD, as CDC director, which requires Senate confirmation.
Dr. Weldon served in the Army before practicing medicine in Florida. He represented Florida's 15th District in Congress for seven terms, where he focused on health policy and introduced legislation related to vaccine safety and abortion funding restrictions. After leaving Congress in 2008, he served as president of a healthcare sharing ministry trade group and is currently an internal medicine physician at Health First Medical Group in Malabar, Fla.
NIH
9. Mr. Trump selected Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD to lead the NIH, which requires Senate confirmation.
Dr. Bhattacharya is a Stanford University professor of health policy, as well as a physician and economist. He directs Stanford's Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. He has been critical of how pandemic policies were managed, accusing former NIH leaders of stifling debate. Dr. Bhattacharya has endorsed Mr. Kennedy as HHS secretary.
Surgeon General
10. Mr. Trump nominated Janette Nesheiwat, MD, to serve as the next U.S. Surgeon General, which requires Senate confirmation.
Dr. Nesheiwat is a double board-certified physician, medical director at CityMD and former Fox News medical contributor known for her public health advocacy and work on the front lines of global crises. She has previously supported preventive medicine and vaccination efforts.
Reactions
11. Mr. Trump's early leadership selections have introduced a degree of uncertainty regarding the overall direction of the healthcare agency, as several appointees have expressed differing opinions on prominent and costly healthcare issues. These range from the power of pharmaceutical companies and direct to consumer advertising; the role of diet and GLP-1s; and the growing influence of Medicare Advantage as the public voiced discontent with healthcare affordability and access broadly following the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.
12. The healthcare reactions to Mr. Kennedy's potential appointment as HHS Secretary were sharply divided. While some groups express willingness to collaborate with the new administration on healthcare priorities, many public health experts, physicians and current agency staff have strongly criticized the choice, citing Mr. Kennedy's lack of qualifications, history of vaccine skepticism, and potential risks to public health and healthcare innovation.
"I think there's been an overreaction," Marc Miller, CEO of King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services, said regarding incoming HHS policies that people could potentially be concerned about. "I think there has been some premise that the health insurers might do better under this new administration than the providers would. We don't necessarily ascribe to that."
At the same time, notable people in science have openly opposed Mr. Kennedy’s nomination, including Nobel Laureates who urged lawmakers to reject the nomination, warning that his appointment could undermine the nation's global leadership in health sciences.
13. Dr. Oz as the next potential CMS administrator has drawn mixed reactions from healthcare investors. Following the nomination, shares of managed care companies like UnitedHealth Group and Humana rose, while hospital-focused stocks such as Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare and Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare saw slight declines.
Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy, was a marketing client of companies founded by Dr. Oz from 2009 to 2019, The Washington Post reported in December. As of 2022, his holdings included a stake in UnitedHealth Group worth as much as $600,000, a stake in Amazon worth as much as $2.4 million and stakes in fertility treatment providers worth as much as $6 million, NPR reported in November. It is unclear if Dr. Oz still holds investments in these companies, and if he does, whether he plans to divest his shares or mitigate conflicts of interest in another way, according to the report.