U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy has been relieved of his duties by the White House administration on Friday citing their practice of making way for new leadership.
The baton has been passed to Sylvia Trent-Adams who holds the position of Deputy Surgeon General. Expediting the decision, Trent-Adams’ name and picture as the surgeon general was already updated on the Twitter account.
“Today, Dr. Murthy, the leader of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, was asked to resign from his duties as Surgeon General after assisting in a smooth transition into the new Trump Administration,” the statement issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said.
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It added that Murthy will now serve as a member of the Commissioned Corps.
“Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams, who is the current Deputy Surgeon General, will serve as the acting Surgeon General and assume leadership of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps,” it further stated.
The 19th surgeon general of the United States, 39-year-old Murthy has worked extensively in his field. Graduating from top-notch institutions like Harvard College and the Yale University schools of medicine and business, he co-founded Swasthya, a community health partnership in rural India as well as Visions, an HIV/AIDS educational program in India and the United States.
A native of the United Kingdom, Murthy was unavailable to comment on the recent developments.