Obama names two Indian-Americans to his administration

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jan 27 (PTI) US President Barack Obama hasnamed two Indian-Americans - Vivek Murthy and Islam Siddiqui -to his Administration, the White House said.

Murthy has been appointed as member of the advisorygroup on Prevention, Health, Promotion and Integrative andPublic Health. Siddiqui would be Obama''s Chief AgriculturalNegotiator.

"Our nation will be greatly served by the talent andexpertise these individuals bring to their new roles. I amgrateful they have agreed to serve in this Administration, andI look forward to working with them in the months and yearsahead," Obama said in a statement after announcing hisintention to appoint Murthy to the key Administration postalong with 13 others.

Murthy is an attending physician at Brigham andWomen''s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School,where he is an internal medicine hospitalist.

He is co-founder and President of Doctors for America,a grassroots organization of over 15,000 doctors and medicalstudents in 50 states who are working to build a better healthcare system for all Americans.

He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Epernicus,LLC, a privately-held company that builds social networkingplatforms for scientific institutions and clinical trials.

Murthy has lectured widely on health care reform andphysician advocacy.

His writings and research have been published in theJournal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Science,the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and TheWashington Post.

Murthy received a B A from Harvard University, an M.D.

from the Yale School of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from the YaleSchool of Management.

On Wednesday, Obama also sent to the US Senate hisintent to re-nominate Siddiqui to be his Chief AgriculturalNegotiator, Office of the United States Trade Representative,with the rank of Ambassador.

He was nominated for the first time in September lastyear.