Trump's surgeon general pick promotes misleading claims about her education, new investigation shows

Source: The Independent

Tuesday 29 April 2025 18:00 EDT


Questions are swirling about the background of President’s Donald Trump’s pick for Surgeon General and whether she has presented misleading claims about where she was educated. Dr Jannette Nesheiwat has been described by the president as “a double board-certified medical doctor,” and a “proud graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.”

Prior to her nomination as Surgeon General she has been employed as a New York City medical director with CityMD, a group of urgent care facilities and also has appeared on Fox News and other TV shows. However, according to CBS News, Nesheiwat only completed her residency through the university’s family medicine program in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and did not obtain her medical degree there.

She actually earned her degree from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, in St. Maarten, in the Caribbean, records reviewed by the outlet have shown. AUC also confirmed to CBS that Nesheiwat was enrolled there for six years, from 2000 to 2006. Typically the program includes four years of study, but Nesheiwat was there for six.

Such lengthier study periods have, in recent years, fueled stigma against medical schools in the Caribbean, which have been perceived by some as a last resort for those unable to get into medical school in the U.S.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/surgeon-general-education-jannette-nesheiwat-b2739648.html