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Following Criticism of Targeting Minorities, Bush Nominates Arab American to Head NIH
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| Zerhouni, Bush and Carmona |
WASHINGTON, March 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – In the wake of human rights groups reports of unfair targeting of minorities in the United States, U.S. President George W. Bush nominated an Algerian-born doctor and a Hispanic former green beret to America's two most powerful positions in medicine.
In an appointment to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Dr. Richard Carmona, a professor of clinical surgery at Arizona's University of Medicine, was named Tuesday, March 26, as the new U.S. Surgeon General.
Carmona was named to the most important position in U.S. medicine, having originally left the education system at primary school level to bring up a brother and sister.
Carmona was a police officer before training as a doctor after his stint as a Green Beret during the Vietnam War. Before his new posting, he was professor of clinical surgery at Arizona's University of Medicine.
Dr. Elias Zerhouni, who arrived in Washington from Algeria in 1975 with a young wife and $300 to his name, is to take the number two U.S. health position as head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s largest biomedical research agency, which controls a budget of $23 billion. His nomination also requires Senate approval.
Zerhouni, a radiologist and biomedical engineer, was previously head of radiology and serves as executive vice-dean at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Carmona and Zerhouni were both described by Bush as examples of people who attained the American dream.
Zerhouni is considered one of the most respected doctors in the field and has been highly praised for his patenting of a new instrument designed to enhance magnetic resonance imaging.
"He's one of these rare people who can actually predict and envision the future of our health care system and what it's lacking," said Nancy Taylor, president of Surgi-Vision, a company Zerhouni helped found, based on his patented MRI enhancement technology.
"I think part of that comes from his radiology experience ... he's got a physician's hands so he can actually feel and see," she added.
Zerhouni is one of only a handful of Arab Americans that have been appointed to top government positions. The top Arab American currently serving in an appointed position is U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, a former Michigan Senator of Lebanese descent.
Bush's nomination of Carmona and Zerhouni comes in the wake of recent statistics released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) showing that Blacks, Latinos, and other minorities continue to be unfairly targeted by America's criminal justice system.
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