President Trump has nominated Robert Weaver, 39, to head the Indian Health Service, citing his "nearly two decades of experience." But The Wall Street Journal is now raising questions about whether or not the Quapaw tribe member is actually qualified for the job. Of particular scrutiny is the time Weaver spent at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Missouri, between 1997 and 2006, as he listed on the resume he gave to senators.
Weaver claims he had a financial role at the hospital and that he held "supervisory and management positions." Augusto Noronha, the chief financial officer at the hospital from 1999 to 2005, said: "I don't recall [Weaver's] name whatsoever." The director of patient financial services, Bob Henderson, said he did know the name Rob Weaver, and that the man had worked to register E.R. patients. When asked by the Journal if such a position was a leadership role, Henderson said: "Well, I guess it would depend upon how you look at leadership."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"When asked by the Journal what constituted [Weaver's Indian Health Service] experience," The Wall Street Journal adds, "the spokeswoman said he had needed the system as a patient, especially when he was a child, and pointed to his career in health care." Read more about the questions surrounding Weaver's nomination to lead the agency responsible for the health care of more than 2 million Native Americans at The Wall Street Journal.
-
How clean-air efforts may have exacerbated global warmingUnder the Radar Air pollution artificially cooled the Earth, ‘masking’ extent of temperature increase
-
September 14 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include RFK Jr on the hook, the destruction of discourse, and more
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
