Trump nominates Indiana doctor for surgeon general

Shari Rudavsky | The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana's top doctor could soon become the nation's surgeon general.

President Trump on Thursday nominated Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams to serve as the next surgeon general.

Adams was appointed to his current position 2½ years ago by Vice President Mike Pence, at the time Indiana's governor.

While Adams declined interviews through a Health and Human Services spokesman, he tweeted Thursday that he was grateful for the opportunity.

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During his time in office, Adams presided over a major health crisis — an HIV outbreak in Scott County associated with intravenous drug use that eventually stretched to more than 200 cases. Although Pence had first expressed reservations about needle exchange programs, the state's response eventually included such a program among other measures.

People who have worked in Indiana with Adams praised him for his tireless energy as well as his finely honed people skills and ability to listen.

Truly honored at nomination by @realDonaldTrump for US Surgeon General. Looking forward to working to improve health in US. #greathealth — Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) June 29, 2017

At the Indiana State Department of Health, Joey Fox worked alongside Adams as his legislative director and served during the feverish days that the state wrestled with how to respond to the HIV outbreak in Southern Indiana.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts were urging the state to institute a needle exchange program. But then-governor Pence had reservations about such measures.

Now a lobbyist, Fox recalled Adams was always receptive to hearing what his staff had to say.

“He was always willing to have his door open to understand the broader implications of our policy,” he said. “I got to see the side of him that was a compassionate leader.”

Many who met Adams as he traveled around the state, talking to Hoosiers, also found the Indiana University School of Medicine alumnus to be a consummate listener.

Dr. Virginia Caine, director of the Marion County Public Health Department, has worked with five different state health commissioners.

What stood out about Adams, she said, was his ability to connect with culturally diverse people, from those in vulnerable populations to high-powered academics.

“He has his hands on the pulse of what’s going on in communities. He’s not a distant kind of health commissioner. He gets right out there at the grass roots levels and really identifies with the folks he needs to serve,” she said.

As an anesthesiologist making rounds at Eskenazi Hospital, Adams could always connect with both the patients and doctors, said Dr. Charles Miramonti, chief of Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services as well as the hospital’s chief of care integration.

“Jerome is a lot of fun in the hospital. He’s very gifted at connecting with families,” he said. “He can work a group of docs like few people I have ever seen.”

Even medical associations that have been critical of attempts to undo the Affordable Care Act hailed Adams’ nomination.

The Medical Society of the State of New York, which has expressed “deep concerns” about both the U.S. House and Senate bills to reform health care, in a statement likened Adams to former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, noting that Adams is “in touch with the public needs.”

Adams has often mentioned when talking about the challenges of addressing the opioid epidemic that his brother struggles with substance abuse.

He has made addressing the problem a key part of his work at the State Department of Health. He's also a staunch, outspoken advocate for needle exchange programs.

In an editorial he wrote a week ago, he noted that such programs are a beneficial, proven way to prevent disease.

"Syringe exchanges aren’t pretty. They make people uncomfortable. But the opioid epidemic is far uglier," he wrote. "Yes, syringe service programs make people uncomfortable. Their results, however, should not."

Not every one he encounters in Washington, D.C., will necessarily share his views on every issue. But Miramonti said that Adams not only can motivate people, he also can win over even the most passionate of doubters on a topic by presenting objective arguments for the other side.

Adams has faced some challenges during his time at the State Department of Health. Under his tenure, eight same-sex couples sued the agency for only allowing a mother and a father to be named on birth certificates.

The Washington political landscape may differ from that in Indiana, but Adams will likely quickly learn how to navigate it, Caine said.

“He’s a quick study. He has an ability is to understand people and what makes them tick,” she said.

Adams met with Trump in November, shortly after Trump was elected president.

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The meeting came at the end of a day that Trump officials described in an email as being a day of exchanges with "potential leaders being considered for positions inside the Trump-Pence Administration."

In a tweet after the meeting, Adams said the two discussed "health vs. health care, community health/prevention as cheaper than treatment."

The two also spoke about how to establish better relationships between doctors and patients, the problems with Obamacare and how to improve health care policy, the communications office of Trump's transition team said at the time.

If confirmed, Adams would be the second health expert from Indiana to join the Trump administration. Seema Verma, who helped engineer the state's Healthy Indiana Plan, was confirmed as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid in March.

In April, Trump removed Dr. Vivek Murthy, an Obama administration holdover and Boston-based internist, from the post of surgeon general. Since that time, Murthy's deputy, Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, has served as surgeon general.

Contributing: Maureen Groppe, The Indianapolis Star. Follow Shari Rudavsky on Twitter: @srudavsky