Marty Makary: the medical contrarian who will lead the FDA

Dr. Martin "Marty" Makary, President Trump's pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is an accomplished surgeon and researcher who rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic by publicly opposing both vaccine mandates and giving boosters to younger people. Despite his controversial views on Covid, Makary is generally pro-vaccine, setting up a potential conflict with Trump's nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

A renowned surgeon and critic of American healthcare

Makary was born in Liverpool, England, and moved to the United States as a child. He completed his surgical residency at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., before taking a position as a professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, where he teaches, practices and serves as the chief of Islet Transplant Surgery.

Makary developed a reputation as an innovative surgeon as well as an analyst of the U.S. healthcare system. He was awarded the Nobility in Science Award by the National Pancreas Foundation in 2015 and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2018. The author of more than 250 peer-reviewed research articles, Makary "often criticized the medical and regulatory establishment throughout his career, accusing them of 'groupthink,'" said Merrill Goozner at Washington Monthly. Makary has written several books "about the high costs of healthcare, the lack of transparency in medicine and medical errors," said CNBC. Makary's bombshell claim that physician error is the third-leading cause of death in the United States was "propped up by a back-of-the-envelope calculation" that was "never meant to be generalized to the entire U.S. hospitalized population," said Jonathan Jarry at the McGill University Office for Science and Society.

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A member of the Covid contrarian caucus

Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, Makary backed lockdowns and masking to control the spread of the virus. But in subsequent op-eds and appearances on Fox News, Makary often challenged the emerging public health consensus. Makary "supported the use of vaccines but opposed mandates," said ABC News. He was also skeptical of the "dangerous push" to give COVID boosters to teenagers and college students and opposed masking young children in schools and daycares. The rollout of boosters in the fall and winter of 2021 was being conducted "without supporting clinical data," said Makary at The Wall Street Journal. Makary's "most infamous take" was a February 2021 claim that "the United States would reach herd immunity within two months," said Benjamin Mazer at The Atlantic. "The Delta and Omicron waves followed, killing hundreds of thousands more Americans," said Mazer.

As the pandemic wore on, he grew increasingly frustrated with "the exclusive club of medical experts" who were "advising the Biden administration on policy and controlling the purse strings for scientific grants," said Joshua Arnold at the Family Research Council. He became a leader of those arguing that natural immunity was just as good as if not better than vaccination. "Public-health officials ruined many lives by insisting that workers with natural immunity to Covid-19 be fired if they weren't fully vaccinated," said Makary at The Wall Street Journal.

His public profile as a Covid contrarian has made his nomination to lead the FDA controversial in some quarters. Makary "has perpetuated outright lies in the name of leveraging austerity and undermining patient autonomy," said Beatrice Adler-Bolton at the podcast Death Panel, adding that Makary has questioned the reality of conditions like long Covid. Others are concerned that Makary, who has supported vaccines and vaccine research, may agree to do the bidding of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Makary cannot be trusted with "evaluating safety concerns for ongoing drug therapies and food safety that has been a popular target by RFK," said Protect Our Care.

Other experts greeted his nomination more warmly. "Makary seems like a serious, successful biomedical scientist and physician," said UC-Davis Medical School biologist Paul Knoepfler at Science. Makary is an "independent thinker" who "might just serve as the bridge between the president-elect’s loyalists and public health advocates," said Dr. Leana S. Wen at The Washington Post.