The Washington Post is reporting that President-elect Barack Obama has asked Dr. Sanjay Gupta (who we recently interviewed) to serve as surgeon general:

The offer followed a two-hour Chicago meeting in November with Obama, who said that Gupta could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy advice, the sources said. Gupta later spoke with Tom Daschle, Obama's White House health czar and nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, and other advisers to the president-elect.

The Michigan-born son of Indian and Pakistani parents, Gupta has always been drawn to health policy. He was a White House fellow in the late 1990s, writing speeches and crafting policy for Hillary Clinton. His appointment would give the administration a prominent official of South Asian descent and a skilled television spokesman.

What the post doesn't mention is that Dr. Gupta would bring to the administration a much deeper grounding in both global health issues and urban health innovations than recent surgeons general. Given his polished presentation skills and his fame, he may be able to make excellent use of the bully pulpit his position provides to educate Americans on the importance of an active U.S. role in global health issues, and the health benefits of sustainability and smart growth.

As per Wikipidea, Gupta's parents are Hindus from India (punjab province).

Posted by: manas on January 6, 2009 5:25 PM

He is also a life extensionist! Perhaps he may help shift focus from a bit from curing diseases to preventing them. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Posted by: Edward on January 6, 2009 5:37 PM

After going over his background, he has a lot of achievements that might qualify him to the position. The fact that he is qualified, however, does not guarantee that he is well-fit for the job. Are there any more candidates other than him?

Posted by: News Review on January 6, 2009 5:54 PM

He also falsely accused Michael Moore of fudging facts... I'm not optimistic.

Posted by: B.Dewhirst on January 6, 2009 8:17 PM

Like B said, Gupta went ballistic about Moore's movie since it advocated universal healthcare, which most Americans want. He totally made up information like a child, showed he hadn't even seen the film, and faced no consequences for doing so.

PLEASE everyone check out the real information about Obama's unprogressive appointments and policies...

realchangeorfalsehope.wordpress.com

Posted by: L C on January 7, 2009 9:15 AM

Gupta does not have Pakistani parents. He is 100% Indian. Please get your facts straight.

Posted by: Bonnie on January 13, 2009 7:13 PM

Emergency — Please forgive this intrusion into your busy schedule. Stontravez Nash #722799--ILLEGALLY CONVICTED for crimes he didn’t commit. Being held in Fla Dept of Corrections. Numerous and various attempts have been made to murder and deprive him of 1st, 8th, 14th Amendment Constitutional Rights under due process of law; cell not spayed, bugs and unidentified insects eat at his flesh and swarm the odor in and on from his head, stinging and biting his eyes, nose, lips and body. This has been going on since (4-18-07). He’s denied of property, certain mail, the benefit of just administrative remedy, appeal and the inmate grievance procedure as a protected class of person under the US and Fla Constitutions.

On Oct 9, 2008, he was brutally beaten, physically abused by C.O.s at Everglades C.I. for (2) reasons. He was snatched, taken away from the inmate general population, hid and denied communication with his family. This is common practice in the D.O.C. It was perfectly and professionally covered. All of his inmate grievances have been denied except (4). Since being at Charlotte C. I., his life has been threatened twice and he received (2) false D.R.s even though only (1) of the C.O.s have worked around him, seeing it’s still an issue. Can you help us to fix this problem?

On April 7, 2009, Sgt. Nazario, F-Dorm Sgt., Forced Mr. Nash to cut his hair for all of the wrong reasons. Nash complied with force and threats to show good faith to staff and family that he is not “the problem.” We have cried out for help from others in the chain of command in the State House. No one has helped to right this terrible injustice. We make our appeal to you for help. Please INVESTIGATE these inmate grievances: Log #0903-510-301, informal grievance log #09-510-113, #09-510-1005 and all other inmate requests filed by Nash. If anyone will investigate inmate grievance log # 0811-510-214 and #08-6-36889, you too would ask the question, “ Why is S. Nash still locked down in Case Management?” Please help us.

From: Elvera Baker
Aunt

Posted by: Elvera Baker on April 17, 2009 2:54 PM

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