New U.S. Surgeon General Sworn In at White House

Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in Friday as the nation’s surgeon general, and President Bush made it clear that he expects no letup in the anti-smoking and anti-drug abuse crusades of her predecessors.

In a brief White House ceremony, Bush saluted the new appointee and Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, himself a fervent critic of tobacco use.

“My respect and appreciation of my good friend Lou Sullivan grows every day as he fights for the good health of our people,” Bush said. “In the few minutes we’ve been here, 11 people have died from smoking, 390,000 people each year.”

Novello said her motto would be “good science and good sense,” and she thanked Bush for an appointment she said should be an inspiration to women and minorities.

“The American dream is well and alive,” said Novello, the first woman and first Latino to serve as surgeon general. “Once a dream, it is now my pledge: to be a good doctor for all who live in this great country.”

Novello, 44, is a native of Puerto Rico. On hand for the ceremony was the governor of Puerto Rico, Rafael Hernandez Colon, who told Bush: “I’m here representing the pride of all the people of Puerto Rico at this moment.”

Novello, who succeeds C. Everett Koop, is a pediatrician who has specialized in AIDS and kidney disease in children.

The surgeon general officially is the leader of the 6,500-member Public Health Service, but Koop and others before him used the post as a bully pulpit to influence government policy on smoking, AIDS and other health-related issues.

Bush mentioned drug and alcohol abuse and AIDS as among the challenges facing Novello. “The tasks ahead are difficult,” he said. “Because so many of these problems begin with our children, it is only right that we ask a pediatrician to help.”