Trump Administration Appoints Nurse to Serve as Acting Surgeon General

Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, previously appointed by the Obama administration, was asked to resign on Friday following instructions from the Trump administration. Murthy was replaced by his deputy, Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, PhD, RN, FAAN, one of the first nurses to be appointed surgeon general and the first non-physician to be appointed.

While Trent-Adams is the first non-physician surgeon general, Dr. Richard Carmona who served under the Bush administration was both a nurse and physician, as reported by NYTimes.com. According to SurgeonGeneral.gov, “The Surgeon General provides Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury.” It has not been made clear why Dr. Murthy was asked to step down, but he commended the appointment of Dr. Trent-Adams with a Facebook post stating:

“The new Acting Surgeon General, Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams, is the right person to step into this role. She has dedicated the past 30 years to our nation serving in the Army and in the US Public Health Service. Her deep wealth of experience is matched only by the immense size of her heart. I know she will serve with distinction.”

Before stepping into her role as surgeon general, Trent-Adams previously served as CNO of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and before that as deputy associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration, as reported by Becker’s Hospital Review. Trent-Adams also served as a nurse officer in the US Army and a research nurse at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where she earned her PhD.