Obama picks CNN man to be surgeon-general

Washington: President-elect Barack Obama has asked Dr Sanjay Gupta to be the next US surgeon-general, looking to a popular television personality to help provide a public face for his healthcare agenda.

Best known as a health and medicine correspondent for CNN and CBS, Gupta, 39, is a practising neurosurgeon in Atlanta and a member of the faculty at the Emory University School of Medicine.

The surgeon-general oversees some 6,000 officers in the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service. Officers work as physicians, nurses, dentists and other health professionals in various federal agencies - including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Coast Guard and the Bureau of Prisons.

Past surgeons-general have wielded the most influence, however, by using the bully pulpit to focus attention on major health issues. And Gupta would come to the post with an unparalleled public profile and background as a communicator.

In 2003, while reporting on the invasion in Iraq, he was embedded with a Navy medical unit and performed brain surgery on US soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

More recently, Gupta - the son of immigrants from India and Pakistan - launched a nationwide campaign on CNN titled Fit Nation to highlight the dangers of obesity in children.

Obama's transition office declined to comment publicly on the offer. But Gupta confirmed on his Twitter feed for CNN on Tuesday that he had been "approached". The network, which has employed Gupta since 2001, reported that he is likely to accept the appointment.

Past surgeons-general have been influential voices in national health care.

Dr C. Everett Koop, for example, waged a high-profile campaign in the 1980s to spotlight the dangers of smoking. He also helped push the federal government to respond to the worsening Aids crisis after years of silence from the Ronald Reagan White House. And Dr David Satcher, who served under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, issued a ground-breaking report that highlighted the prevalence of mental illness and the stigmas attached to it.

Gupta, who as a White House fellow in 1997 served as special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, has been promised a much higher profile role and broader portfolio than past surgeons-general, John King said on CNN on Tuesday. "We are told that the pitch to him has been that healthcare reform will be a top priority, that wellness, fitness, obesity, the issues he has focused on often here at CNN, will be a top priority," he said.

A post not immune to controversy

The surgeon-general's post has generated substantial controversy in the past. Bill Clinton's first surgeon-general, Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders, was forced to resign after she told an Aids forum in 1994 that masturbation was "natural and safe" and that "perhaps those facts should be taught in schools".

Elders also enraged social conservatives with her outspoken advocacy for condom distribution and sex education in schools, as ways to combat the spread of HIV.

George W. Bush's last surgeon-general, Dr Richard Carmona, accused the administration of stopping him from addressing controversial issues such as stem-cell research and contraception. The White House, which denied Carmona's charges, has not filled the post since his term expired in 2006, relying instead on interim appointments.

Obama, who has made prevention a central focus of his push for health care reform, will almost certainly look to his surgeon-general to advance that effort. Chronic diseases linked to behaviours such as smoking and unhealthy diet are among the leading causes of skyrocketing healthcare costs.

The new surgeon-general also could play an important role in pushing the kind of healthcare overhaul that Obama says he wants to pursue this year.