CHICAGO, IL (TIP): “The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin is pleased to support the nomination of Dr. Jerome Adams for United States Surgeon General, currently serving as Indiana Health Commissioner with a proven leadership record with a steadfast dedication to improving the lives of the communities around him,” said Dr. Gautam Samadder, President of AAPI, in a statement issued here.

Dr. Jerome Adams was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the new Surgeon General of the United States on June 29th. Adams, a physician anesthesiologist, has a long-tenured history in the health industry and is from Vice President Mike Pence‘s home state of Indiana.

If he is confirmed by the US Senate, he would serve a four-year term and would take over for Sylvia Trent-Adams, who’s served as the acting surgeon general since April 21 when Trump asked Vivek Murthy to resign from the top job as America’s Doctor. Murthy, a member and friend of AAPI, had served in the role since December 18, 2014 and was nominated by President Barack Obama.

According to Dr. Samadder, who assumed charge as the President of the largest ethnic organization of physicians in the US representing nearly 100,000 physicians and fellows of Indian origin, Dr. Adams has demonstrated this leadership on numerous fronts including during the recent HIV outbreak in southeast Indiana and with the ongoing opioid abuse epidemic nationally. He is also an active leader within organized medicine and serves on the Health and Public Policy and Governmental Affairs Committee for the American Society of Anesthesiologists and has served on several boards of the American Medical Associations including the Young Physicians Section.

Dr. Adams is an anesthesiologist who has been outspoken against the opioid epidemic. He began serving as the Indiana State Health Commissioner in 2014 under then-governor Mike Pence and was in that role during the 2015 outbreak of HIV that spread among users of a prescription opioid, Opana. In the role, Adams oversees a number of branches of the state’s health departments: Public Health Protection and Laboratory Services, Health and Human Services, Health Care Quality and Regulatory, and Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Commissions. In addition to serving as the health commissioner, he’s also the secretary of the Indiana State Department of Health’s executive board and is also the chairman of the Indiana State Trauma Care Committee. Adams has testified in front of the US Congress and the Senate Committees

Dr. Adams holds a master’s degree in public health and was a key player in navigating Indiana’s response to an HIV epidemic directly associated with drug use in 2015. “I would respectfully suggest that we’re here today not so much to look back at what happened,” Adams said to the committee. “But to make sure it doesn’t happen in another community. You need to ask yourself, ‘Are you helping more people than you’re hurting?” Adams, who earned his medical degree from Indiana University’s School of Medicine, currently works as an assistant professor of clinical anesthesia at the school and also works as a staff anesthesiologist at Eskenazi Health. At Eskenazi, he’s the chairman of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee.

Dr. Adams, with his wide range of experiences in the healthcare sector, understands the healthcare landscape, and will be a strong advocate for state public health, bringing a unique and valuable set of skills to the nation’s healthcare system. “AAPI would like to work closely with Dr. Adams in helping shape healthcare policies and programs benefiting the entire nation and the people of this great nation,” said Dr. Samadder, who has made making AAPI’s voice heard in corridors of power in the nation a top priority of his presidency.