As Obama continues to assert that 'science is top of his agenda', team watchers are speculating on his choice for Surgeon General, the US equivalent of our Chief Medical Officer (only they have few constitutional powers). Dr Sanjay Gupta is a handsome 39 year old neurosurgeon and anchor with CNN who is being assumed as the next SG.
Despite the few powers, the influence of the post was demonstrated most brilliantly by Dr C. Everett Koop. When he arrived in Washington he was advised to 'keep your head down and your mouth shut'. He did the exact opposite for the next 10 years, presiding over the greatest decline in smoking, campaigning for immunization, transforming the public's understanding of Aids through mass distribution of information booklets and criticising the politicization of the abortion debate. As an evangelical Christian he was pilloried by the conservative right for compromising on his beliefs over Aids. While promoting condoms for anyone having sex outside of marriage his personal belief remained that sex should only be for marriage. He said 'I am the Surgeon General, not the Chaplain General'. It was his integrity and passion to improve the health of the nation that won him admirers from all quarters - a work that he is still doing aged 92.
The big beasts that the new SG will have to tackle are obesity, dementia, addictions and ironically another sexual disease epidemic. With two doctors at the helm of the National Science and Technology Council, expect to see a high profile given to health technologies. A good start though would be insisting on all clinical trials having to be registered [this applies to the UK too]. While many negative results go unrecorded and unpublished, Governments will not have all the information they needed for decision making. Taken as a dig at the outgoing administration Obama said his elevation of science was about 'protecting free and open enquiry..ensuring the facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology'. However the reality is that we will need scientists and industry to be transparent about all their findings if we are to have evidence that can be trusted.
