What to know about Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump's pick to lead Medicare and Medicaid

Mehmet Oz, a celebrity heart surgeon turned talk show host and lifestyle guru, is President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the massive federal health care bureaucracy that covers more than a third of Americans.

Here's a look at a television doctor who became a politician and is now designated to lead an agency that touches nearly all Americans in some way.

Trained as a heart surgeon, Oz rose to prominence on Oprah Winfrey's leading daytime television show before spinning off his own series, “The Dr. Oz Show," in 2009.

The program aired for 13 seasons and made Oz a household name.

Oz stopped doing surgeries in 2018 but his physician license remains active in Pennsylvania through the end of this year, according to the state's online database.

Oz is an author of New York Times bestsellers, an Emmy-winning TV show host, radio talk show host, presidential appointee, founder of a national nonprofit to educate teens about healthy habits, and self-styled ambassador for wellness.

He also guest hosted the “Jeopardy!” game show and helped save a dying man at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Oz was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of a heart surgeon who emigrated from Turkey.

He attended a private high school in Delaware and Harvard University as a college undergraduate, also playing football there, and served in the Turkish army to maintain his dual citizenship.

Oz dispensed nutritional and lifestyle advice on his show, portraying himself as a trusted doctor capable of explaining health matters in an engaging and approachable way. But his show also blurred the line between medical advice and advertising, failing to make clear to his audience just how closely he worked with the companies he pitched.

He repeatedly promoted products of questionable medical value and was named in lawsuits that alleged he made misleading claims on the show. Several of the companies he has promoted are structured as multilevel marketing businesses whose practices have repeatedly drawn the attention of federal regulators.

Oz had a net worth between $100 million and $315 million, according to a federal financial disclosure he filed in 2022, which gives dollar values in ranges but does not provide specific figures.

Oz ran for U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2022, one of the highest-profile races of that year's midterms. Though he was a longtime resident of New Jersey and worked in New York City, Oz ran in Pennsylvania, citing ties to the state through his wife's parents.

His campaign leaned heavily into his celebrity. Its logo looked just like his TV show logo. His themes — “a dose of reality” or “the doctor is in” — spun off his TV doctor reputation.

He ran in a crowded Republican primary and won Trump's eagerly sought endorsement.

“Women, in particular, are drawn to Dr. Oz for his advice and counsel. I have seen this many times over the years. They know him, believe in him, and trust him,” Trump said when he endorsed Oz.

Following a court battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Oz narrowly won the primary over McCormick by 951 votes but lost to Democrat John Fetterman in the general election.

Oz told The Associated Press in a 2022 interview that he first met Trump in 2004 or 2005 when he asked Trump to use his golf course for an event for Oz’s children’s charity. Trump agreed. After that, they saw each other intermittently at social events before Oz interviewed Trump about his health during the 2016 presidential campaign.

In a 2016 appearance on “The Dr. Oz Show,” Trump said his wife, Melania Trump, was “a big fan” of the show.

Trump appointed Oz to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition during his first term.

If confirmed by the Senate to lead CMS, Oz would oversee Medicare, Medicaid, children’s health insurance and the Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare.” The programs cover more than 160 million people, from newborns to nursing home residents.

CMS also plays a central role in the nation’s $4.5 trillion health care economy, setting Medicare payment rates for hospitals, doctors, labs and other service providers. Government payment levels become the foundation for private insurers. The agency also sets standards that govern how health care providers operate.

The agency has more than 6,000 employees and a $1.1 trillion budget.

FILE - Mehmet Oz visits the AW Driving School & License Testing Center in Allentown, Pa., Sept. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The U.S. government recognized Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González as the “president-elect” of the South American country on Tuesday, months after President Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won the July election.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized González in a post on X in which he also demanded “respect for the will” of Venezuelan voters.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden previously said González earned the most votes in the disputed July 28 election but it had fallen short of acknowledging him as president-elect.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared Maduro the election winner hours after polls closed. Unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts.

But the opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation’s electronic voting machines and posted them online. González and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the voting records showed the former diplomat won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.

“We deeply appreciate the recognition of the sovereign will of all Venezuelans,” González said in a post on X shortly after Blinken's statement Tuesday. “This gesture honors the desire for change of our people and the civic feat that we carried out together on July 28.”

González left Venezuela in September for exile in Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with an investigation into the publishing of the vote tally sheets.

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Yván Gil responded to Blinken's comment with personal attacks.

"In the last days of his government, he should dedicate himself to reflecting on his failures, getting rid of imperial and colonial complexes and going to write the memoirs of how the Bolivarian Revolution made him bite the dust of defeat, just like his predecessors," Gil said of Blinken in a statement, which did not mention election results.

Maduro and electoral authorities have rejected repeated calls from the U.S., the European Union, Colombia, Brazil and other nations to show the detailed vote records that back up the president's reelection.

Swift condemnation of the lack of post-election transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, whose members are aligned with the ruling party, to audit the results. The high court reaffirmed his victory.

Experts from the United Nations and the U.S.-based Carter Center, which observed the election at the invitation of Maduro’s government, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility. The U.N. experts stopped short of validating the opposition’s claim to victory but said the faction’s voting records published online appear to exhibit all of the original security features.

Earlier in the week, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, who has friendly relations with Maduro, reversed his support for the July elections, calling the vote a “mistake.”

Petro spoke in an interview with Brazilian news outlet Globo News, which released excerpts online that Petro’s office shared Tuesday on social media. Petro told the news outlet Monday while visiting Brazil for the G20 summit that he initially was in favor of Venezuela holding the elections, but that he later decided that the vote was not “free.”

“I think the elections were a mistake,” Petro said. His office did not immediately respond to a request for him to elaborate on the reasons for his change of heart.

Petro, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — all leftists friendly with Maduro — attempted to make peace as the results came under dispute, but the effort went nowhere.

Venezuela’s next presidential term begins Jan. 10. Maduro has already received an invitation from the ruling party-controlled National Assembly for a swearing-in ceremony.

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writer Astrid Suarez contributed to this report from Bogota, Colombia.

FILE - Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González waves to supporters at Puerta del Sol in downtown Madrid, Spain, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)