Joe Biden picks Indian American Vivek Murthy to lead the new task force to tackle COVID-19 crisis in the US

• The task force is Biden’s first step towards fighting the pandemic, which has already killed over 2.4 lakh Americans.
• Indian American Vivek Murthy was also the surgeon general during Barack Obama’s presidency.
• Murthy is also the co-founder of the Doctors for America initiative in the US.

President-elect Joe Biden is already at work and has announced a COVID-19 task force. The task force is Biden’s first step towards fighting the pandemic, which has already killed over 2.4 lakh Americans.

And to head the task force, Biden has chosen Indian American Vivek Murthy, who was also the surgeon general during Barack Obama’s presidency. “On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as Transition Advisors to help take the Biden-Harris Covid plan and convert it into an action blueprint that starts on January 20th, 2021,” Biden had said during his victory speech.

Media reports quoted Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield who confirmed that Murthy would co-chair the task force along with David Kessler, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

Who is Vivek Murthy?

Murthy’s parents Lakshmi Narasimha Murthy, Maithreya Murthy, are immigrants from Karnataka who had moved to England in the 1970s, where Murthy was born. Later, the couple moved to Miami, Florida.

Murthy graduated from Harvard University and went on to get his MD and MBA from Yale University.

He was appointed as the 19th surgeon general of the United States in 2014 and served until 2017. In fact, then Vice President Joe Biden had sworn in Murthy to his role then, where he took the oath on the Gita.

Murthy had also co-founded the Doctors for America initiative, which brings together doctors and medical students in the US to put “patients over politics”.

He is also actively involved in many initiatives centered around India. He co-founded VISIONS Worldwide, which is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on HIV AIDS education in India and the US.

Murthy and his family have also set up another not-for-profit SCOPE foundation in his native village – Hallegere, Mandya district, Karnataka. Murthy also runs the Swasthya Project in India, which trains women in rural India to be health providers and educators.


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