Trump Transition Updates: Cabinet Nearly Full With Flurry of Friday Picks

Dr. Nesheiwat is one of five New York City medical directors for CityMD, a chain of urgent care centers across the region, according to a spokeswoman. She has contributed to Fox News since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, speaking about Covid-19, mpox and the importance of cancer screening tests, among other topics.

Her sister Julia Nesheiwat, a former Army officer, was homeland security adviser in the first Trump administration and is married to Representative Mike Waltz of Florida, whom Mr. Trump has tapped to be national security adviser.

Often called “the nation’s doctor,” the surgeon general is responsible for leading thousands of public health officers and communicating key health information to the public. Dr. C. Everett Koop, perhaps the most influential surgeon general in the history of the office, played a key role in changing attitudes about smoking some 40 years ago.

The job is currently held by Dr. Vivek Murthy, who has sought to draw more attention to mental health issues. He wants to require a surgeon general’s warning label for social media and calls loneliness and isolation a public health crisis.

“Dr. Nesheiwat has big shoes to fill in succeeding Dr. Murthy, a leader who spoke to healing our rifts as a nation,” said Dr. Dave Chokshi, the former New York City health commissioner. “Serving as surgeon general is a weighty responsibility, rooted in the physician’s oath to do no harm — and in the duty to be a clarion voice for public health.”

In a social media post, Dr. Nesheiwat pledged “to work tirelessly to promote health, inspire hope, and serve our nation with dedication and compassion.”

A spokeswoman for CityMD said Dr. Nesheiwat has worked there for 12 years. The company has had a major impact on medical care in the city. Many New Yorkers now often find it more convenient to drop by one of its storefront clinics than book an appointment with their primary care doctor because they are open on weekends and into the evenings. During the first year of the pandemic, long lines outside CityMD clinics were a common sight as people sought Covid tests.

In September 2022, Dr. Nesheiwat told NashvilleVoyager that she had taken care of more than 20,000 Covid-related patients over the past two years.

“I do a little bit of everything,” she said, “from taking care of broken bones, lacerations, heart attacks, monkeypox, Covid, flu, appendicitis, etc. The variety keeps me on my toes.”

The selection of a doctor with little public health experience worried some experts. Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian who has written extensively about epidemics, did note that the job is largely “ceremonial” and less powerful than most Americans assume.

“Still, the surgeon general can move public opinion on our national health with his or her reports and pronouncements,” said Dr. Markel, the author of “Quarantine!,” a book about the 1892 typhus and cholera epidemics in New York. “Consequently, selecting a candidate many might deride as a ‘doc in the box’ director without any real public health credentials or experience is a time bomb without a clear idea of when ‘the boom’ is going to occur.”

Dr. Nesheiwat’s website mentions her forthcoming book “Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicine.” She also sells vitamins online.

In that capacity, Mr. Turner helped “to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities,” Mr. Trump said in a statement announcing the pick on Friday.

Mr. Turner was one of several lesser-known staffing picks Mr. Trump made in a flurry of announcements on Friday, and initial reaction was mixed. Several low-income housing experts, contacted late Friday, said they did not know enough about Mr. Turner to make an assessment. But others praised the decision, based on his work during Mr. Trump’s first term.

“Scott Turner has a well-established commitment to community development and was a vocal advocate for investing in underserved communities in the first Trump administration,” said David M. Dworkin, the president and chief executive of the National Housing Conference.

Mr. Turner, a cornerback who played for three N.F.L. teams over a nine-year career that ended in 2004, becomes one of the few Black people chosen to fill a senior position in the administration during the transition. He served in the Texas House of Representatives as a Republican from 2013-17, then opted not to seek re-election after being trounced in a long-shot bid for speaker of the Texas House.

Mr. Turner is an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, just north of Dallas.

He has worked in a number of jobs since retiring from the N.F.L., including a stint at a software development firm, and an effort to start his own clothing line.

Most recently, he has been the chief visionary officer for a company that develops and manages properties in Dallas and Southern California, while serving as an adviser to Mr. Trump’s think tank, the America First Policy Institute.

Mr. Trump, who was accused of discriminating against minority renters during his long career as a developer and landlord, has signaled his intention to slash the federal bureaucracy, which could have a significant impact on the department’s work force.

Mr. Gorka was a divisive figure in the Trump White House and a combative defender of the president. He was one of the most prominent proponents of a Trump administration ban of refugees and people from certain predominantly Muslim countries.

After being expelled from the White House, Mr. Gorka worked as a political commentator on Fox News, Newsmax and his own syndicated radio show.

Born in Britain to Hungarian parents, Mr. Gorka was described by Mr. Trump in his statement as a “legal immigrant to the United States with more than 30 years of national security experience.”