Kevin O'Connor (physician)
Kevin O'Connor | |
|---|---|
| Physician to the President | |
| Assumed office January 25, 2021 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Sean Conley |
| Personal details | |
| Education | St. Bonaventure University (BS) New York Institute of Technology (DO) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Awards | Combat Medical Badge Order of Military Medical Merit |
Kevin O'Connor is an American physician and retired U.S. Army Colonel serving as the physician to the president.[1]
Education[edit]
O'Connor attended college at St. Bonaventure University on a US Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship, graduating with a major in biology and minor in theology.[2][1] In 1992, he graduated medical school from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine.[1] He completed residency training in family medicine at The Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, New Jersey,[3] where he served as chief resident in 1995. He also completed U.S. Army flight surgeon training and was designated a master flight surgeon in 2010.[4]
Career[edit]
O’Connor served 22 years in the U.S. Army, including tours of duty with the 82nd Airborne Division, 75th Ranger Regiment, and United States Army Special Operations Command, and over a decade at the White House.[5] O'Connor has received the Combat Medic Badge.[1] He is on faculty at George Washington University, where he served as the founding director of executive medicine.[3][4] He worked for three years in the George W. Bush administration.[6] In 2013, he was inducted into the Order of Military Medical Merit.[3] He was began service as a physician in the White House in 2006 under the Bush administration.[7] In 2009, O'Connor was named physician to the Vice President.[8] In 2017, O'Connor retired from the US Army as Colonel.[7] In January 2020, he was appointed medical director of St. Bonaventure University's Franciscan Health Care Professions program.[2] According to Biden's memoir Promise Me, Dad, O'Connor worked closely with the Biden family during Beau Biden's battle with brain cancer.[6]
White House[edit]
A few days after his inauguration, President Joe Biden announced that he would appoint O'Connor as the White House physician. His predecessor, Dr. Sean Conley, was physician to previous president Donald Trump and departed the White House alongside Trump on January 20, 2021.[9]
On July 21, 2022, O'Connor diagnosed Biden with COVID-19 and prescribed him with Paxlovid.[10] There was commentary on O'Connor not briefing the White House Press Corps during Biden's illness, instead communicating through memoranda addressed to the White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d "Kevin O'Connor". NYIT. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ a b Holliday, Anne (January 30, 2020). "Former Physician to VP to Head Bona's FHCP Program". WESB News.
- ^ a b c "Kevin O'Connor, DO". The GW Medical Faculty Associates. George Washington University. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ a b "Meet new White House physician Kevin O'Connor". January 25, 2021.
- ^ "Biden to replace White House doctor with long-time physician". ABC. January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
- ^ a b c Thompson, Alex; Cancryn, Adam; Tani, Max (July 26, 2022). "What's up (with Biden's) Doc?". POLITICO. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
- ^ a b Sederstrom, Jill (June 13, 2019). "FP Reflects on Service on Front Lines of Family Medicine". American Academy of Family Physicians.
- ^ Glueck, Katie; Martin, Jonathon (July 29, 2019). "Why Joe Biden's Age Worries Some Democratic Allies and Voters". The New York Times. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ "Biden replaces controversial White House physician". CNN. January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
Conley generated controversy in the fall when he admitted to offering rosy descriptions of Trump's condition because the White House wanted to project optimism.
- ^ POLITICO Staff (July 21, 2022). "Read a letter from Biden's doctor on his Covid diagnosis". POLITICO. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 21st-century American physicians
- American osteopathic physicians
- Biden administration personnel
- Family physicians
- George Washington University faculty
- Living people
- New York Institute of Technology alumni
- Physicians to the President
- St. Bonaventure University alumni
- United States Army colonels
- United States Army Medical Corps officers