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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. details the childhood obesity crisis on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
Prevention should be one of the most powerful tools in American medicine. We should identify disease early, prevent it when we can, and give doctors and patients the best evidence to make decisions about their health.
Today, we are strengthening one of the institutions charged with doing exactly that.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, announced the appointment of eight new members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. We are reforming and refocusing the Task Force to strengthen scientific rigor, broaden clinical expertise, and improve the recommendations that inform preventive care across America.
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The Task Force carries enormous responsibility. Its recommendations influence how doctors screen for disease, how patients make decisions about preventive care, and how our country evaluates the evidence behind preventive medicine. They also have consequences beyond the examination room: Federal law generally requires private health plans to cover preventive services that receive an A or B recommendation from the Task Force without patient cost-sharing.
That responsibility demands rigorous science and practical medical judgment.
Science advances when qualified experts challenge assumptions, interrogate evidence, identify gaps, and test whether conclusions withstand scrutiny.
I appointed eight new members with deep experience across pediatrics, oncology, cardiology, radiology, gastroenterology, family medicine, health economics, and clinical research. Several have spent decades treating patients. Others have devoted their careers to evaluating medical evidence, technologies, and health policy.
Together, they bring more frontline clinical experience and specialized medical knowledge to the Task Force.
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The Task Force has traditionally drawn heavily from primary care, preventive medicine, and experts trained in evaluating medical evidence. Those perspectives remain essential. But preventive medicine does not stop at the boundaries of any one discipline. It encompasses cancer detection, cardiovascular disease, medical imaging, pediatric care, diagnostic technologies, chronic disease, and other areas where specialized clinical knowledge can sharpen the evaluation of evidence.
Our goal is not to determine what the Task Force concludes. Our goal is to strengthen the expertise applied to the evidence, so Americans can have confidence in how the Task Force reaches its conclusions.
We need specialists at the table. We need physicians who regularly treat patients. And we need experts who can evaluate scientific literature while understanding how recommendations work in clinical practice.
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The eight members announced today bring that perspective.
Dr. Seth Corey, who will chair the Task Force, brings 41 years of experience caring for children and young adults and deep expertise in cancer and blood disorders.
Dr. Patrick Hunter has practiced pediatrics for 34 years and brings experience implementing clinical guidelines, including in rural communities.
Dr. Ronald Karlsberg has spent 48 years providing cardiovascular care.
Dr. Venkatesh Murthy brings expertise in preventive cardiology, medical imaging, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
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Dr. Goldie Stands-Over-Bull practices family medicine and provides comprehensive care to Native American patients across the lifespan.
Dr. Louis Wilson brings nearly three decades of experience in gastroenterology, hepatology, clinical nutrition, disease prevention, and early detection.
Dr. Dennis Wulfeck has practiced diagnostic radiology for 33 years. Dr. Stephen Parente brings three decades of research examining health policy, health care delivery, and their effects on patients.
These appointments add new perspectives without discarding the experience already on the Task Force.
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Despite claims last year that I planned to dismiss every member of the Task Force, eight members appointed during the Biden administration will continue to serve. We chose reform over wholesale replacement, preserving institutional knowledge while adding clinical and scientific expertise.
The Task Force will remain scientifically independent. HHS will not dictate its conclusions. It will continue to evaluate evidence and make recommendations about screenings, counseling, preventive medications, and other clinical preventive services.
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But independence should never mean insulation from rigorous scientific debate.
Science advances when qualified experts challenge assumptions, interrogate evidence, identify gaps, and test whether conclusions withstand scrutiny. A cardiologist may recognize implications in cardiovascular screening evidence that others overlook. A radiologist can bring specialized knowledge to questions about imaging. A pediatrician understands how recommendations affect children and families. A practicing gastroenterologist knows how screening guidance translates into decisions with patients.
Those perspectives belong at the table.
Our goal is not to determine what the Task Force concludes. Our goal is to strengthen the expertise applied to the evidence, so Americans can have confidence in how the Task Force reaches its conclusions.
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The Task Force must follow the evidence wherever it leads, weigh benefits against harms, ask difficult questions, and apply the highest standards of scientific integrity to every recommendation.
America faces a chronic disease crisis that medicine cannot solve through treatment alone. We must put prevention at the center of American health care. That requires strong evidence, rigorous scrutiny, experienced clinicians, and a willingness to question conventional wisdom when the evidence demands it.
A reformed and refocused Preventive Services Task Force can help meet that standard.
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We are raising the bar for preventive medicine in America — with rigorous science, experienced clinical judgment, and an unwavering commitment to putting prevention first.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM HHS SECRETARY ROBERT F KENNEDY JR.
