Bush announces nominees for surgeon general, NIH chief
President Bush Tuesday nominated Arizona trauma surgeon Richard Carmona to be surgeon general and Dr. Elias Zerhouni, a top administrator at Johns Hopkins University, to direct the National Institutes of Health.
Carmona and Zerhouni must be confirmed by the Senate before filling the two top health policy and research positions.
Bush has been looking for a surgeon general ever since David Satcher, President Clinton's appointment, announced last year that he would step down when his four-year term ended last month. At NIH, the top post has been vacant for more than two years.
Bush has not yet submitted a nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration, where the top job has been empty for a year.
Carmona served as an Army Green Beret in Vietnam, a police officer in Pima County, Ariz., a SWAT team member, a nurse and a physician. He is currently the clinical professor of surgery and clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine at the University of Arizona.
Carmona made headlines and inspired a made-for-TV-movie in 1992 by rappelling from a helicopter to rescue a person stranded on a cliff.
"When I first learned that [he] once dangled out of a moving helicopter, I worried that maybe he wasn't the best guy to educate our Americans about reducing health risks," Bush said in announcing Carmona's appointment.
Zerhouni, who immigrated to the United States from Algeria, is the executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and chairman of its Department of Radiology and Radiological Science.
"Dr. Zerhouni will bring strong management skills to the NIH, and they are needed," Bush said.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill announced Tuesday that Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy Mark Weinberger will leave his post sometime in the middle of April.
"I am extremely appreciative of the sacrifices Mark has made to head our tax policy efforts," O'Neill said in a statement. Weinberger played a "critical role" in bringing about passage last year of Bush's tax cut, O'Neill said.
A Treasury spokeswoman said Weinberger will spend time with his family before deciding what to do next.