President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he has picked David Shulkin as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Shulkin is a physician who is currently serving in the Obama administration as Veterans Affairs undersecretary for health. He would be Trump’s first Obama administration holdover.
Trump’s decision ends a protracted search for the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is the second largest federal agency. Shulkin, 57, would be the first secretary of the VA who has not served in the military. For the last 18 months, Shulkin has led the sprawling veterans health system, which is the country’s largest, with 1,700 clinics and hospitals.
Shulkin is an internist who came to government with 30 years of experience leading private hospitals. He is an specialist in health-care quality and held leadership positions at the Drexel University College of Medicine, Temple University Hospital and the Medical College of Pennsylvania before coming to government. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, completed his internship at Yale School of Medicine and his residency and fellowship at the University of Pittsburg Presbyterian Medical Center.
Shulken is in line to run an agency that is beset by challenges, including a backlog of disability claims, a rising suicide rate, overuse of opiates, and a shortage of doctors and nurses. “We are both eager to begin reforming the areas in our Veteran Affairs system that need critical attention and do it in a swift thoughtful and responsible way,” Shulkin said in a statement released by the Trump transition team.
