One of the first comments on that post asked, “Where is Dr. Murthy?”
Alleigh Marré, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an emailed statement on Friday
that he was asked to step down “after assisting in a smooth transition into the new Trump administration.” Ms. Marré said Dr. Murthy would continue to serve as a member of the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service.
Nurse Replaces Surgeon General After Obama Appointee Resigns -
By DANIELLE IVORY and GARDINER HARRISAPRIL 21, 2017
Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, an Obama administration holdover, was asked to resign by the Trump administration on Friday.
She joined the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service in 1992
and served as the deputy associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration before joining the surgeon general’s office.
Dr. Richard Carmona, who served under President George W. Bush, was a nurse
and a physician, and he sometimes referred to himself as the first nurse to serve as surgeon general.
And Dr. C. Everett Koop, the most famous surgeon general in the country’s history, largely achieved his
fame by defying the Reagan administration’s policies or wishes on a host of public health issues.
Dr. Murthy has for years made headlines for calling gun violence a public health threat.
A version of this article appears in print on April 22, 2017, on Page A12 of the
New York edition with the headline: Nurse Is Named Acting Surgeon General.