Controversial Louisiana surgeon general tapped for CDC leadership role

Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham — a vocal supporter of the "Make America Healthy Again" movement and a harsh critic of Covid shots — has been named principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham — a vocal supporter of the "Make America Healthy Again" movement and a harsh critic of Covid shots — has been named principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the appointment to NBC News, though it hadn’t been made public as of Tuesday afternoon.

The principal deputy director at the CDC is a high-level appointment. As second-in-command, Abraham would be in a position to act as a key adviser on a variety of public health issues.

Abraham, a three-term Louisiana congressman, practiced for 10 years as a veterinarian before he went to medical school. According to his biography on the Louisiana Health Department website, Abraham was a “practicing family medicine physician” when he was appointed state surgeon general last year. He described himself as a “country doctor” in an essay published in April.

While Abraham is licensed to practice medicine in Louisiana, the Louisiana Illustrator reported in February that he didn’t appear to be board-certified in the specialty of family medicine. A search for Abraham on the American Board of Family Medicine’s website yielded no results. A separate search on the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiner’s site lists Abraham as a general practitioner but not a family medicine doctor. (Board certification isn’t required to practice any particular specialty, but it’s viewed as an extra layer to ensure a doctor’s credentials, experience and expertise, according to the American Board of Physician Specialties.)