Mehmet Oz is an American TV host, physician, author, and former professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University. Dr. Oz started his surgical residency at Columbia University in 1986 and became a professor there in 2001, later retiring as professor emeritus in 2018. He gained national fame through appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and as the host of The Dr. Oz Show, which ran for 13 seasons starting in 2009.
In 2022, Oz ran as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania and became the first Muslim nominee from a major party. In 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate him to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Mehmet Oz Biography
Mehmet Cengiz Öz, known as Dr. Oz was born on June 11, 1960, to Turkish immigrant parents and he is 64 years old as of 2024. He holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Turkey and completed 60 days of mandatory military training in Turkey in the 1980s to retain his Turkish citizenship.
As of 2022, Mehmet Oz describes himself as a “secular Muslim” and says he connects more with the spiritual aspects of Islam than with religious laws. He aligns his beliefs with Sufism and has expressed opposition to Sharia law in the U.S.
Mehmet Oz Education
Mehmet Oz attended Tower Hill School and he graduated magna cum laude in biology from Harvard University in 1982, where he played football and water polo. In 1986, he earned both MD and MBA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and its Wharton School. During his time in medical school, he was class president and student body president and received recognition for athletic leadership. 1britannica
Mehmet Oz Parents
Mehmet Oz’s father was a devout Muslim, while his mother was a secular Kemalist. He was born to Turkish parents, Suna Yildiz Atabay and Mustafa Öz. His father was from Turkey and trained as a cardiothoracic surgeon in the United States after graduating at the top of his medical school class in Turkey. His mother came from a wealthy family in Istanbul with Circassian heritage.
My dad passed away today at the age of 93,” Oz said. “Dad changed everyone who met him. I remember as a child running behind his fast-moving legs while he made hospital rounds. Even as he aged and his legs no longer raced along, his mind never slowed down. I fell in love with medicine after witnessing my dad do sometimes painful procedures on desperately sick patients who subsequently thanked him for saving their lives. 2delawareonline
Mehmet Oz Wife
Mehmet married Lisa Oz, who is an author and TV personality. His wife and children are Christians. They met in Philadelphia while Oz was studying at the University of Pennsylvania. They have four children Daphne Oz, Oliver Oz, Zoe Yasemin Oz, and Arabella Oz. 3imdb
Mehmet Oz’s Career Journey
Mehmet Oz began his medical career in 1986 with a residency at Presbyterian Hospital in New York, affiliated with Columbia University. In 1995, he co-founded the Cardiac Complementary Care Center, which introduced alternative treatments for heart disease patients. However, this caused tensions with the hospital administration, leading Oz to stop using some controversial methods.
In 1996, Oz gained media attention for performing a successful heart transplant on Frank Torre, during the World Series. The publicity strained his partnership with co-founder Jerry Whitworth, who left the center in 2000. Oz then reopened it as the Cardiovascular Institute and Integrative Medicine Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where he served as director.
Oz became a professor at Columbia University in 2001 and was later named professor emeritus in 2018. He contributed to heart surgery innovations, such as the MitraClip and LVAD, and held multiple patents. However, his research presentations faced setbacks in 2003 due to methodology changes.
In 2010, Oz co-founded Sharecare, Inc., an online health platform. In 2015, a group of physicians criticized him for promoting unscientific ideas and called for his removal from Columbia. The university defended his academic freedom but cut ties with him in 2022, removing his profile from their website.
His Television Appearances
Mehmet Oz appeared as a health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show for five seasons. In 2009, Oprah produced The Dr. Oz Show, which premiered on September 14, focusing on health topics like Type 2 diabetes and anti-aging supplements. The show ran for over a decade, ending on January 14, 2022.
Oz’s work also included a health series, Transplant!, which won awards, and he consulted on the movie John Q. In 2011, he joined Oprah’s OWN network for Oprah’s Allstars and hosted health segments on 1010 WINS radio. In 2014, his surgery-focused series Surgeon Oz debuted on OWN.
During Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Trump appeared on The Dr. Oz Show to discuss his health records. Later, in 2018, Oz joined the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition under Trump. In 2021, Oz guest-hosted Jeopardy! for two weeks, though the decision faced backlash from fans and contestants.
His Political Influence
In 2007, Mehmet Oz was involved with the Republican Party in New Jersey and had donated to Republicans like John McCain and Bill Frist. He supported President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004 and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s 2012 congressional campaign in New Jersey.
In 2018, President Donald Trump appointed Oz to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. In 2022, President Joe Biden asked Oz to step down from the council because he was running for Senate, which could violate the Hatch Act. Oz refused, so Biden removed him from the position. 4wikipedia
His Writing Influence
Dr. Oz has written eight New York Times bestsellers, including Food Can Fix It, YOU: The Owner’s Manual, and YOU: On a Diet. He also wrote Healing from the Heart, which won an award. He has a regular column in Oprah Magazine, and his article Retool, Reboot, and Rebuild in Esquire won a National Magazine Award in 2009.
Oz co-founded Sharecare.com, which won the “Best Medical App” award for AskMD in 2014, and its DoctorOz app was nominated for an Emmy in 2017. In 2003, he started HealthCorps, a program modeled after the Peace Corps that sends young college graduates to high schools to teach about diet, fitness, and mental health. This program has reached over a million teens nationwide.
Dr. Oz is a member of many major heart surgeon organizations. He has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Forbes’ most influential celebrity, and Esquire’s 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century. He was also recognized as a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum and one of Harvard’s 100 Most Influential Alumni.
He has received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the AARP’s list of 50 Influential People Over 50, and an honorary doctorate from Istanbul University. He won the Gross Surgical Research Scholarship and was named “Doctor of the Year” by Hippocrates magazine.
Dr. Oz is regularly listed as one of the top physicians by Castle Connolly Guide and other ranking organizations. He is also an honorary police surgeon for New York City. 5concordia.net
Mehmet Oz’s Net Worth
Mehmet speaks both English and Turkish fluently. His net worth is estimated to be between 100 million USD and 300 million USD.
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