Nomination of VIvek Hallegere Murthy to Surgeon General of the Public Health Service

Floor Speech

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Ms. HIRONO. I thank the Senator for yielding.

MURTHY NOMINATION

I rise today to speak in strong support of the nomination of Dr. Vivek Murthy for Surgeon General of the United States.

In these brief remarks I will explain why I think he is a highly qualified nominee, why his age should not be a limiting factor at all, and finally why we need a Surgeon General now.

Dr. Murthy has been waiting for a vote on this nomination for months. I am glad that today the time has come to give him that vote.

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I met with Dr. Murthy a little while ago and found him to be one of the most interesting and likeable people I have met--and that is saying a lot.

He has accomplished much already and has a deep commitment to giving back through his work. I found him to be a breath of fresh air.

I was particularly impressed by his work at a company he founded where he identified inefficiencies in clinical drug trials and came up with a solution. His innovative ideas will help medical treatments move to market faster. In other words, he wanted to get drugs faster to the people who needed them.

We often speak with admiration of Americans who are technologically proficient, and it is rare to find someone who is not only tech savvy, but is able to take that skill and combine it with the kind of medical training, creative mind, and ability to identify and solve real-world problems. In Dr. Murthy, we have that someone.

While there are some who feel Dr. Murthy is too young and inexperienced to be Surgeon General, anyone who has met and talked with him as I have would, I believe, come away impressed.

Dr. Murthy is not yet 40, but certainly his age has not prevented him from accomplishing many things. He is someone who has done much to solve public health challenges in his years as a physician, and well before that.

He has leadership experience through his work starting and running a public health advocacy organization and this includes founding a technology company.

He has a strong medical background and experience that demonstrates his ability to take complex health information and translate it for others--exactly what we need in a Surgeon General.

If anything, we should be doing all we can to get young, bright, committed people such as Dr. Murthy into public service.

Recently, this Nation found itself worried about Ebola. Misinformation and fear were palpable in our communities. We did not have a permanent Surgeon General to coordinate the information tsunami that descended on the American people from government and scientists. And without a Surgeon General, it has been a struggle to ensure that accurate, timely information about Ebola was disseminated to the public.

Today it is Ebola. We don't know what public health crisis will come next. We need a Surgeon General who will roll up his sleeves, survey the evidence, and take action.

Dr. Vivek Murthy has demonstrated he will be that kind of Surgeon General because he does not shy away from asking tough questions, listening, and then developing solutions that are driven by evidence.

His listening skills and his ability to engage and communicate with a broad spectrum of people, combined with his medical and business background--he also has a master's degree in business--will make him an extremely effective Surgeon General.

Think about this: We have a nominee who is not only a well-trained physician but also has business management skills and the ability to engage stakeholders--be they medical professionals, faith-based organizations, or the public at large.

He can start conversations and effect real change to improve the health of our communities, particularly in his priority areas of obesity and mental health.

Again, I found in Dr. Murthy a combination of an ability to be very creative, with the very important ability to listen; because although he has both a medical and business background, he doesn't think he knows more than everybody else. So this listening ability is very important, with the ability to solve real-world problems.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of Dr. Murthy for U.S. Surgeon General.

I yield the floor.

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