Quick: Name America's most famous doctor!Probably House, right? Or maybe Doogie Hauser? But no, those are pretend doctors. Name a real doctor. Odds are high that for most people, Dr. Sanjay Gupta would be the eventual reply. Gupta is CNN's friendly neighborhood neurosurgeon and a columnist for Time magazine. He's the smiling face of America's medical establishment. And Barack Obama is days away from naming him surgeon general.Gupta is a great pick. To illustrate why, here's another question: Who's the current surgeon general? Odd that you just blurted out Steven K. Galson are low. That's not necessarily a problem. The surgeon general isn't just the guy who writes warnings for cigarette labels. He commands the 6,000 health professionals in the Public Health Commissioned Corps. He gives out awards. There's no evidence Galson is failing in those duties.But Gupta is not leaving CNN and Time to give out medals. The surgeon general has an informal role as the country's leading medical and lifestyle educator, and it's that role the Gupta is uniquely positioned to fill. There's not a doctor in this country with half his media training and experience, nor one with a rolodex of editors and reporters a tenth as large. Expect Gupta to be doing more than health education, though. According to Howard Kurtz, Gupta has negotiated "an expanded role in providing health policy advice." And if he's advising the project, he'll almost certainly be advocating for it, too. Which means Sanjay Gupta, arguably the nation's most trusted health care authority, will back on TV screens arguing for Obama's universal health care plan, lending it his credibility as a doctor, a trusted media presence, and the nation's surgeon general. It's a far cry from the days when Ira Magaziner and Hillary Clinton were reform's best known advocates. CAN SANJAY GUPTA FIX AMERICAN HEALTH CARE?
Quick: Name America's most famous doctor!Probably House, right? Or maybe Doogie Hauser? But no, those are pretend doctors. Name a real doctor. Odds are high that for most people, Dr. Sanjay Gupta would be the eventual reply. Gupta is CNN's friendly neighborhood neurosurgeon and a columnist for Time magazine. He's the smiling face of America's medical establishment. And Barack Obama is days away from naming him surgeon general.Gupta is a great pick. To illustrate why, here's another question: Who's the current surgeon general? Odd that you just blurted out Steven K. Galson are low. That's not necessarily a problem. The surgeon general isn't just the guy who writes warnings for cigarette labels. He commands the 6,000 health professionals in the Public Health Commissioned Corps. He gives out awards. There's no evidence Galson is failing in those duties.But Gupta is not leaving CNN and Time to give out medals. The surgeon general has an informal role as the country's leading medical and lifestyle educator, and it's that role the Gupta is uniquely positioned to fill. There's not a doctor in this country with half his media training and experience, nor one with a rolodex of editors and reporters a tenth as large. Expect Gupta to be doing more than health education, though. According to Howard Kurtz, Gupta has negotiated "an expanded role in providing health policy advice." And if he's advising the project, he'll almost certainly be advocating for it, too. Which means Sanjay Gupta, arguably the nation's most trusted health care authority, will back on TV screens arguing for Obama's universal health care plan, lending it his credibility as a doctor, a trusted media presence, and the nation's surgeon general. It's a far cry from the days when Ira Magaziner and Hillary Clinton were reform's best known advocates. 
