The Obama administration plans to nominate Dr. Vivek Murthy to become the country's 19th surgeon general and the first of Indian descent.
If confirmed by the Senate, Murthy would replace acting Surgeon General Rear Adm. Dr. Boris Lushniak, who assumed the interim role in July when Dr. Regina Benjamin stepped down.
Murthy, a member since 2011 of the Surgeon General's Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health, is the co-founder and president of Doctors for America, a national physician organization that advocates for affordable, high quality healthcare.
Since 2006, Murthy has worked as an attending physician and instructor at Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School. In 1995, Murthy co-founded Visions Worldwide, an organization focused on HIV/AIDS education in India and the U.S.
A graduate of Harvard University, Murthy received an MBA from the Yale School of Management and his medical degree from the Yale School of Medicine.
Murthy is the second Indian-American to be considered for the position. The first, CNN correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, was reported to be the administration's choice in 2009. Gupta, however, withdrew his name from consideration before he was officially nominated.
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