Kevin O'Connor (physician)

Kevin O'Connor
O'Connor (right) with then-Vice President Biden
Physician to the President
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 25, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded bySean Conley
Personal details
EducationSt. Bonaventure University (BS)
New York Institute of Technology (DO)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1995–2017
RankColonel
AwardsCombat Medical Badge
Order of Military Medical Merit

Kevin C. O'Connor is an American physician and retired U.S. Army colonel serving as the physician to the president.[1]

Education

O'Connor attended college at St. Bonaventure University on a US Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship, graduating with a major in biology and minor in theology.[2][1] In 1992, he graduated medical school from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine.[1] He completed residency training in family medicine at The Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, New Jersey,[3] where he served as chief resident in 1995. He also completed U.S. Army flight surgeon training and was designated a master flight surgeon in 2010.[4]

Career

O’Connor served 22 years in the U.S. Army, including tours of duty with the 82nd Airborne Division, 75th Ranger Regiment, and United States Army Special Operations Command, and over a decade at the White House.[5] O'Connor has received the Combat Medic Badge.[1] He is on faculty at George Washington University, where he served as the founding director of executive medicine.[3][4] He worked for three years in the George W. Bush administration.[6] In 2013, he was inducted into the Order of Military Medical Merit.[3] He began service as a physician in the White House in 2006 under the Bush administration.[7][8] In 2009, O'Connor was named physician to the vice president.[9] In 2017, O'Connor retired from the US Army as colonel.[8] In January 2020, he was appointed medical director of St. Bonaventure University's Franciscan Health Care Professions program.[2] According to Biden's memoir Promise Me, Dad, O'Connor worked closely with the Biden family during Beau Biden's battle with brain cancer.[6] In 2017, he collaborated with James Biden to create a healthcare program with Americore for veterans.[10]

White House

A few days after his inauguration, President Joe Biden announced that he would appoint O'Connor as the White House physician. His predecessor, Sean Conley, was physician to previous president Donald Trump and departed the White House alongside Trump on January 20, 2021.[11]

On July 21, 2022, O'Connor diagnosed Biden with COVID-19 and prescribed him with Paxlovid.[12] There was commentary on O'Connor not briefing the White House Press Corps during Biden's illness, instead communicating through memoranda addressed to the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre.[6]

On July 7, 2024, James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to O'Connor to ask him to come testify. Comer wants him to testify on Biden's health, due to Biden's poor performance at the June 2024 presidential debate with Donald Trump, and how it could be connected to alleged business dealings with the Biden family.[13]

On July 17, 2024, O'Connor diagnosed Biden with COVID-19 and prescribed him with Paxlovid.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Kevin O'Connor". NYIT. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Holliday, Anne (January 30, 2020). "Former Physician to VP to Head Bona's FHCP Program". WESB News.
  3. ^ a b c "Kevin O'Connor, DO". The GW Medical Faculty Associates. George Washington University. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Meet new White House physician Kevin O'Connor". January 25, 2021.
  5. ^ "Biden to replace White House doctor with long-time physician". ABC. January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Thompson, Alex; Cancryn, Adam; Tani, Max (July 26, 2022). "What's up (with Biden's) Doc?". POLITICO. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  7. ^ Arvia, Katie (March 18, 2024). "Get to know President Joe Biden's personal physician, Kevin O'Connor, DO". The DO. American Osteopathic Association.
  8. ^ a b Sederstrom, Jill (June 13, 2019). "FP Reflects on Service on Front Lines of Family Medicine". American Academy of Family Physicians.
  9. ^ Glueck, Katie; Martin, Jonathon (July 29, 2019). "Why Joe Biden's Age Worries Some Democratic Allies and Voters". The New York Times. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  10. ^ Shreckinger, Ben. "Biden insists he’s not involved in his family’s business dealings. But his aides are a different story.," Politico, June 8, 2024, Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  11. ^ "Biden replaces controversial White House physician". CNN. January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021. Conley generated controversy in the fall when he admitted to offering rosy descriptions of Trump's condition because the White House wanted to project optimism.
  12. ^ POLITICO Staff (July 21, 2022). "Read a letter from Biden's doctor on his Covid diagnosis". POLITICO. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  13. ^ "A top House Republican requests interview with Biden's physician". NBC News. July 8, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  14. ^ "President Joe Biden tests positive for COVID-19 while campaigning in Las Vegas, has 'mild symptoms'". AP News. July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
Military offices
Preceded by Physician to the President
2021–present 		Incumbent