CNN’s Gupta tops surgeon general list

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 Gupta could draw attention to local health care issues such as the financial struggles of large public hospitals like Grady Memorial Hospital.

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.

The Washington Post —- quoting two people with knowledge of the talks —- reported that Gupta met for more than two hours with Obama in Chicago on Nov. 25. It said Gupta has told Obama aides he wants the job and that when reached Tuesday, he did not deny that he plans to accept the offer, though he declined to comment.

The New York Times reported that Gupta is the leading contender to fill the position, and the Post said he has also been offered a top post in the new White House Office of Health Reform, twin duties that could make him the highest-profile surgeon general in history.

“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 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. He provides breaking news as well as medical reports for “American Morning” and anchors a weekend program called “House Call With Dr. Sanjay Gupta.”

The surgeon general serves as America’s chief health educator. 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.

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 Atlanta.

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

News researcher Nisa Asokan contributed to this article.

DID YOU KNOW?

> Sanjay Gupta grew up in the Detroit area.

> His parents moved from India in the 1960s to work at a Ford plant.

> He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan.

> He was one of 15 White House fellows appointed in 1997 and he advised Hillary Clinton while she was first lady.

> When reporting for CNN on a U.S. Navy medical team in Iraq in 2003, Gupta was unexpectedly called upon to conduct emergency brain surgery on a 2-year-old Iraqi boy shot by U.S. Marines when he was in a car that did not stop at a checkpoint. The boy did not survive.

> In addition to his CNN job, he contributes to CBS News and writes a column for Time magazine.

—- Associated Press