Trump’s surgeon general pick promotes misleading claims about her education, new investigation shows

Dr. Jannette Nesheiwat wrote in a 2018 social media post, that she had completed her “medical training and residency” at Arkansas as well as serving as Chief Resident

Dr. Jannette Nesheiwat has been described by the president as a ‘proud graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.’ A new investigation has questioned her schooling and credentials. (Getty Images)

Questions are swirling about the background of President’s Donald Trump’s pick for Surgeon General and whether she has presented misleading claims about where she was educated.

Dr Jannette Nesheiwat has been described by the president as “a double board-certified medical doctor,” and a “proud graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.”

Prior to her nomination as Surgeon General she has been employed as a New York City medical director with CityMD, a group of urgent care facilities and also has appeared on Fox News and other TV shows.

However, according to CBS News, Nesheiwat only completed her residency through the university’s family medicine program in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and did not obtain her medical degree there.

She actually earned her degree from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, in St. Maarten, in the Caribbean, records reviewed by the outlet have shown. AUC also confirmed to CBS that Nesheiwat was enrolled there for six years, from 2000 to 2006. Typically the program includes four years of study, but Nesheiwat was there for six.

Such lengthier study periods have, in recent years, fueled stigma against medical schools in the Caribbean, which have been perceived by some as a last resort for those unable to get into medical school in the U.S.

Dr. Jannette Nesheiwat has been described by the president as a ‘proud graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.’ A new investigation has questioned her schooling and credentials. (Getty Images)

Nesheiwat's LinkedIn profile lists “Doctor of Medicine” from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine among her education. It does not mention the Caribbean school.

In a 2018 social media post, Nesheiwat stated that she had completed her “medical training and residency” at Arkansas as well as serving as Chief Resident.

She also mentioned training at “the American University,” though does not specify which school she is referring to, as well as having completing” the majority of my studies” in London, England, at St. Thomas & Guy's Hospital.

In a statement shared with The Independent a representative of Nesheiwat’s sherpa team said: “Dr. Nesheiwat completed a residency training program at UAMS and they encouraged her to list herself as an alumni of that program. That’s why it’s on her LinkedIn.

“AUC was not available as an option when she set up her LinkedIn, but she is proud of attending AUC School of Medicine.

Prior to her nomination as Surgeon General she has been employed as a New York City medical director with CityMD, a group of urgent care facilities and also has appeared on Fox News and other TV shows (Getty Images for Concordia Summi)

“She was able to travel the world, study medicine in different cultures from tropical medicine to socialized medicine in the UK/London, back to America where she completed rotations at Johns Hopkins (emergency medicine/orthopedics) and psychiatry at Metropolitan State Hospital where prisoners were innocent by means of insanity.”

In addition to her media appearances, Nesheiwat has authored a book on the “transformative power of prayer” in her medical career and endorses a brand of vitamin supplements.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, she became a public figure on television as well as working on the frontlines in New York, helping patients in the aftermath of Trump's “Historic Operation Warp Speed that saved hundreds of millions of lives,” per the president’s office.

Nesheiwat’s childhood was also beset with tragedy after she was involved in an incident that killed her father. She was 13 years-old when she accidentally knocked a loaded gun over, which fired and fatally shot her father in the head.

The incident occurred in February 1990 at her family's home in Umatilla, Florida, according to a report by the New York Times.

Nesheiwat is also the sister-in-law of Michael Waltz, who serves as Trump’s national security adviser and was responsible for accidentally adding a journalist to a private Signal group chat, in which classified war plans were shared.