Janette Nesheiwat

Janette Nesheiwat (born 1976)^[1] is an American physician who was briefly a nominee for Surgeon General of the United States during the second Trump administration.^[2] Nesheiwat has served as the medical director of the healthcare company CityMD^[3] and is a former medical contributor on Fox News.^[4]

Janette Nesheiwat
Personal details
Born	1976 (age 48–49) Carmel, New York, U.S.
Relatives	Julia Nesheiwat (sister) Jaclyn Stapp (sister) Mike Waltz (brother-in-law)
Education	Stetson University University of South Florida (BS) American University of the Caribbean (MD)

Early life and education

Janette Nesheiwat was born in Carmel, New York,^[5] the daughter of Jordanian Christian immigrants.^[6] She is one of five children; her siblings are Julia Nesheiwat, Jaclyn Stapp, Dina Nesheiwat, and Daniel Nesheiwat.^[7] Julia Nesheiwat is married to Mike Waltz, a Republican former congressperson and former national security advisor to Donald Trump.^[8] In 1982, Nesheiwat's family relocated from New York to Umatilla, Florida.^[7]

In 1990, when she was thirteen years old, Nesheiwat accidentally knocked over a fishing tackle box and a handgun inside that had fallen with the tackle box discharged. The gun killed her father Ziad Nesheiwat in what police described as a "freak accident." Janette Nesheiwat and her four siblings were then raised by her mother Hayat Nesheiwat, a pediatric nurse. Nesheiwat says her father's death and her mother motivated her to become a physician.^[9][8]

She later attended Umatilla High School,^[10] received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from University of South Florida in 2000,^[11] and completed coursework at Stetson University.^[6] After completing the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program, Nesheiwat was medically disenrolled.^[12] From August 2000 to April 2006, she attended the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Maarten where she received her medical degree.^[13] She did her residency program in family medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences from 2006 to 2009.^[13][14]

Career

Nesheiwat is a board-certified family medicine physician.^[15] Her early career included practicing in Northwest Arkansas,^[16] where she was also the host of Jones TV's Family Health Today. In 2012, she was awarded the Red Cross community partner hero award.^[17] In 2013, Nesheiwat was selected by Arkansas Business for the publication's annual "40 under 40" list, which profiled forty leaders in the state of Arkansas under the age of forty. She was noted for her medical practice, local television reporting, and international relief efforts in Morocco, Haiti, and Poland, as well as relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina and the Joplin tornadoes.^[1][18]

In 2012, Nesheiwat moved to New York City, New York, where she worked for CityMD, an urgent care provider. She eventually became one of CityMD's directors.^[8][19] In addition, she continued working as a medical news correspondent, frequently contributing to national television networks^[19] to discuss health-related topics such as genetic testing research, surgical procedures, the health risks of vaping, and the opioid epidemic. In March 2020, she was hired by Fox News Channel^[20] as a medical contributor to provide analysis and commentary about the COVID-19 pandemic first-hand. ^[21][22]

Nesheiwat wrote a memoir, Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicine, which was released in December 2024.^[23] She has also founded a brand of dietary supplements, BC Boost.^[24][25]

Nesheiwat was briefly a nominee for Surgeon General of the United States during the second Trump administration.^[2] On May 7, 2025, Trump withdrew the nomination after investigative reporting revealed that Nesheiwat misrepresented her medical education as from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, rather than the American University of the Caribbean, falsely claimed board certification in emergency medicine, and lied about being commissioned as an army officer.^[12] Additionally, far-right activist Laura Loomer claimed Nesheiwat was "not ideologically aligned" with Trump.^[26] Hours later, Trump announced that he would instead nominate Casey Means as surgeon general.^[27]