The Trump administration announced Friday that the president would appoint 1986 Wharton MBA and School of Medicine graduate Mehmet Oz of "The Dr. Oz Show" to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.
Known often as "Dr. Oz," Oz has entered into public discourse on numerous occasions as a result of controversial statements and alternative medicinal advice. In 2015, doctors from around the country called for Columbia University, where Oz is a professor, to fire Oz, citing his “disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine."
The previous year, in 2014, Oz was questioned on a congressional panel for his promotion of certain weight-loss products on his television show. At the hearing, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told Oz, "The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of the three products you called 'miracles.'"
The council, which is housed under the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, "engages, educates, and empowers all Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity and good nutrition. Since 1956, the Council has created and promoted programs and initiatives that motivate people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to be active and eat healthy," according to the HHS website.
Oz further came under controversy when hosting an episode of his show discussing the merits of reparative therapy, also called "ex-gay therapy." He later stated on the record that he has come to the conclusion that, in accordance with accepted medical opinion, he does not believe there is validity behind this approach.
At Penn, Oz pursued both his medical degree and his MBA, obtaining both in 1986. He was the president of the medical student body, and he returned to campus in 2012 to speak at the Wharton MBA graduation ceremony.
In Nov. 2017, Oz spoke to more than 200 Penn students in Houston Hall about how to achieve physical and mental wellness in a presentation entitled "The Good Life: What You Really Want."
In 2016, just a few months before the Republican candidate for president would be elected to office, Trump appeared on The Dr. Oz Show to discuss health care policy and to share his own medical records, including a letter signed by his personal physician Harold Bornstein describing Trump's excellent health record. In recent days, Bornstein has stated that Trump dictated the glowing review of his health himself.
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