Mehmet Oz

Mehmet Cengiz Oz (Turkish: Öz; /məˈmɛt ˈdʒɛŋɡɪz ɒz/ ^ⓘ mə-MET JENG-ghiz oz; Turkish: [mehˈmet dʒeɲˈɟiz øz]; born June 11, 1960), also known as Dr. Oz (/ɒz/ ^ⓘ), is an American television presenter, physician, author, educator, and government official serving as the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) since 2025.

The son of Turkish immigrants, Oz was raised in Wilmington, Delaware. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Turkey, Oz completed 60 days of mandatory military training in the Turkish Army during the 1980s. He subsequently began his residency in surgery at Presbyterian Hospital in New York in 1986, co-founding its Cardiac Complementary Care Center to provide various types of alternative medicine to heart disease patients. Oz helped create new procedures and medical devices, including the MitraClip. In 2001, Oz became a professor of surgery at Columbia University, retiring to professor emeritus in 2018. In May 2022, the institution cut ties with Oz and removed his presence from their website.

In 2003, the Discovery Channel launched Second Opinion with Dr. Oz, while Oz also appeared as a regular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, making more than sixty appearances. In 2009, The Dr. Oz Show, a daily television program about medical matters and health, was launched by Winfrey's Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures Television, running for 13 seasons and winning 10 Daytime Emmy Awards. Oz's promotion of pseudoscience, including on the topics of alternative medicine, faith healing, and various paranormal beliefs, has earned him criticism from several medical publications and physicians.

In 2022, Oz ran in the U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania as a Republican; he was the first Muslim candidate for Senate to be nominated by either major party. Oz ultimately lost the election to the Democratic nominee John Fetterman. In 2025, President Donald Trump appointed Oz to lead the CMS, and he was confirmed by the Senate along party lines.