Story highlights Donald Trump had pledged to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs

The announcement means Trump has chosen nominees for 20 of his 21 Cabinet posts

(CNN) President-elect Donald Trump has tapped David Shulkin to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, he announced Wednesday.

"I appointed today the head secretary of the Veterans Administration, David Shulkin," Trump said during his news conference at Trump Tower in New York. "We'll do a news release in a little while, I'll tell you about David, he's fantastic. He's fantastic. He will do a truly great job. One of the commitments I've made is that we're going to straighten out the whole situation for our veterans."

Shulkin is the VA's current undersecretary for health, a position in which he oversaw more than 1,700 health care sites across the United States.

Before joining the VA, Shulkin was president and CEO of the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and president of the Morristown Medical Center.

He was also the chief medical officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

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