Atlanta doctor, CNN reporter Gupta as surgeon general?

WASHINGTON — CNN medical reporter and Grady hospital neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been approached by the Obama administration to fill the post of U.S. Surgeon General, CNN officials confirmed Tuesday.

His appointment as the nation’s chief health educator could be a coup for his home of Atlanta. Some Atlanta health care officials hope that Gupta could draw attention to local health care issues such as the financial struggles of large public hospitals like Grady Memorial Hospital.

AP

Neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta is a medical correspondent for CNN and a faculty member of the Emory University School of Medicine.

Related links:

• Photos: Dr. Sanjay Gupta at work
  
• Jay Bookman: Paging Dr. Gupta
• Previous profile: At CNN, the doctor is always in
• Obama's key advisers
• Bush to Obama:   Updates on the transition
• Atlanta to D.C.:  Inauguration travel guide

In general, health care officials said the appointment of a doctor-journalist would highlight the importance of health communication in an era when health care is a major issue around the world.

Attempts to reach Gupta were unsuccessful Tuesday. Obama’s transition team would not comment.

“There’s no one in the United States better at communicating many complex health issues to the community than Dr. Gupta,” said Dr. James Curran, dean of Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

CNN released a statement saying that the network has restricted Gupta’s reporting since he was approached for the post.

“Since first learning that Dr. Gupta was under consideration for the surgeon general position, CNN has made sure that his on-air reporting has been on health and wellness matters and not on health-care policy or any matters involving the new administration.”

Gupta, a 39-year-old Atlantan and a CNN reporter since 2001, is the network’s chief medical correspondent providing breaking news, medical reports for “American Morning” and anchoring a weekend program called “House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.”

The surgeon general serves as America’s chief health educator by providing Americans with scientific information on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury. The post also offers the opportunity to highlight issues.

The surgeon general oversees the U.S. Public Health Service, a part of the Department of Health and Human Services. If Gupta is nominated, he will go through confirmation hearings.

Gupta is an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine and serves as a neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital. He is also associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady.

Dr. William Sexson, vice president for pediatrics at Grady, said he hoped that Gupta could bring attention to struggling public hospitals that serve many poor people. “The fact that somebody like him chooses to work at a public hospital — that’s a thing that is so impressive about Sanjay,” Sexson said.

Before joining CNN, Gupta was a fellow in neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee’s Semmes-Murphey clinic. In 1997, he was chosen as a White House Fellow. He served as special advisor to first lady Hillary Clinton, according to his CNN profile.

In 2003, he was named one of PEOPLE magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive” and a “pop culture icon” by USA Today.

Karin Muraszko, chairwoman of the Department of Neurosurgery at University of Michigan, helped train him during his medical schooling there.

“He’s an extraordinarily honest person. He very much wants to provide information to people in a way which is constructive and helpful,” said Muraszko, who has remained a friend of Gupta’s. “You want someone who can be vibrant in this role.”

But Gupta will face some tough decisions, Muraszko said: the costs of leaving his journalism and medical jobs, cutting back on the practice of neurosurgery and moving from his adopted home of Atlanta.

“I know he’s developed significant roots in Atlanta,” Muraszko said.