Family physician David Satcher becomes America's
'First Doc'
Victory at last: The Senate finally confirmed family physician David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., as surgeon general and assistant secretary of health Feb. 10. The confirmation came five months after his nomination to the posts and more than nine months after plans for the nomination were announced.
"This is an American dream come true -- to go from a humble farm in Anniston, Ala., to the office of the surgeon general," said Satcher Feb. 10.
AAFP President Neil H. Brooks, M.D., of Rockville, Conn., said, "We are thrilled and honored that the nation's 'first doctor' is a family physician." Satcher, 56, an AAFP member, is the first family physician to be surgeon general.
The Academy recommended to the White House that Satcher be considered a candidate for surgeon general. After the nomination, many Academy members urged their senators to vote for him. AAFP's staff and leaders campaigned for him, countering criticism of Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., and others.
Satcher expressed his gratitude Feb. 10 "to all those strong voices and helping hands, my family, friends and colleagues who have spoken out and worked so hard on my behalf."
When Satcher was sworn into office Feb. 13 in the Oval Office, both he and President Bill Clinton formally thanked the American Academy of Family Physicians. AAFP President-elect Lanny Copeland, M.D., of Albany, Ga., and Executive Vice President Robert Graham, M.D., attended the ceremony.
Satcher promised to try to engage all Americans in an ongoing conversation about physical activity, good nutrition, responsible behavior and other passports to good health and long life.
During the contentious debate on the nomination, senators recounted details of Satcher's life:
- He is one of 10 children raised in rural Alabama by his mother, a homemaker, and his father, a foundry worker, neither of whom completed grade school.
- Certain vaccines were not available in the rural south, and at 2, Satcher's life was threatened by whooping cough. His father talked an African-American physician into caring for the boy at the Satchers' house -- and the physician became Satcher's inspiration for entering medicine. As director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta since 1993, Satcher spearheaded efforts that increased childhood immunization rates from 55 percent in 1992 to 78 percent in 1996.
- He began his career serving low-income patients in neighborhood health centers and urban hospitals. He developed and chaired the King/Drew Medical Center's family medicine department in Los Angeles, chaired Morehouse's family and community medicine department, and was president of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., from 1982 to 1993.
Ashcroft criticized Satcher for concurring with the president's refusal to sign a bill banning late-term abortions because exceptions were not made for the health of the mother. Ashcroft assailed Satcher's support for free-needle programs for drug addicts and approval of a Third World azathioprine (AZT -- zidovudine) study criticized in a New England Journal of Medicine editorial. Senators including Sen. Bill Frist, M.D., R-Tenn., countered with Satcher's statement that he would not promote issues related to abortion but would focus on issues that can unify the nation.
Sen. Jim Jeffords, R-Vt., chair of the Labor and Human Resources Commit-tee that voted 12-5 in favor of the nomination last fall, said the free-needle programs were a matter of AIDS prevention and that two members of the NEJM editorial board resigned in protest of the NEJM editorial.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., the ranking minority member, reminded senators of one of Satcher's comments to the committee -- that he has wanted to make the greatest difference to people he thought had the greatest need.
When the Senate voted 63-35 to confirm the nomination, Clinton expressed pleasure at the overwhelming bipartisan support. After Satcher was sworn into office, Clinton said, "Stunning medical breakthroughs, new treatments for deadly diseases, and a rapidly changing health care system make it more important than ever that our surgeon general truly be America's family doctor and guide us through this time of change."
By Jane Stoever, Associate Editor
"I, David Satcher, do solemnly swear ..." Participants in the historic moment at the Oval Office Feb. 13: Satcher; his wife, Nola; President Clinton; and Vice President Gore.
(White House Photo)
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1998 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
