US Senate confirms Vivek Murthy as Surgeon General Monday Dec 15,2014

 

Indian-American physician Vivek Hallegere Murthy(37) has been confirmed as the 19th Surgeon General of America by U.S. Senate.

He is youngest person and first person of Indian-origin to hold the post.

The upper house of US Congress confirmed Vivek Hallegere Murthy’s nomination by 51 votes to 43 more than year after President Barack Obama had nominated him to this top administration post on public health issues in November 2013 which saw a strong opposition from the powerful pro-gun lobby National Rifle Association (NRA).

The final voting came on Monday Dec 15,2014 soon after the Senate invoked cloture —— a procedural hurdle —— by same numbers (51 to 43 votes). 

About Vivek Hallegere Murthy

 nomination was supported by over 100 public health and medical organisations including the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association. 

Co—founder and president of Doctors for America, a position he has held since 2009, Mr. Murthy is a Hospitalist Attending Physician and Instructor in Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, a position he has held since 2006. 

In 2011, he was appointed to serve as a Member of the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health. 

 has been the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of TrialNetworks, formerly known as Epernicus, since 2007. 

 co-founded VISIONS Worldwide in 1995, a non-profit organisation focused on HIV/AIDS education in India and the United States, where he served as president from 1995 to 2000 and Chairman of the Board from 2000 to 2003. 

received a BA from Harvard University, an MBA from Yale School of Management, and an MD from Yale School of Medicine