Washington: US President Barack Obama has named two Indian-Americans - Vivek Murthy and Islam Siddiqui - for key posts in his administration, the White House has said.
Murthy has been appointed as member of the advisory group on Prevention, Health, Promotion and Integrative and Public Health, while Siddiqui would be the US President's Chief Agricultural Negotiator.
"Our nation will be greatly served by the talent and expertise these individuals bring to their new roles.
"I am grateful they have agreed to serve in this Administration, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead," Obama said in a statement after announcing the appointment of Murthy.
Murthy is an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, where he is an internal medicine hospitalist.
He is co-founder and President of Doctors for America, a grassroots organization of over 15,000 doctors and medical students in 50 states who are working to build a better health care system for all Americans.
He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Epernicus, LLC, a privately-held company that builds social networking platforms for scientific institutions and clinical trials.
Murthy has lectured widely on health care reform and physician advocacy.
His writings and research have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Science, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and The Washington Post.
Murthy received a BA from Harvard University, an MD from the Yale School of Medicine, and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
On Wednesday, Obama also sent to the US Senate his intent to re-nominate Siddiqui to be his Chief Agricultural Negotiator, Office of the United States Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador.
He was nominated for the first time in September last year.
Siddiqui brings to this office incredible agricultural expertise built over years of work in both government and private sectors.
Siddiqui formerly served as Vice President for Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America, where he was responsible for regulatory and international trade issues related to crop protection chemicals.
Previously, the Indian-American also served as CropLife America's Vice President for agricultural biotechnology and trade.
From 1997 to 2001, Siddiqui served in various capacities in the Clinton Administration at US Department of Agriculture as Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Senior Trade Advisor to Secretary Dan Glickman and Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs.
Between 2001 and 2003, Siddiqui was appointed as Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he focused on agricultural biotechnology and food security issues.
Before joining USDA, he spent 28 years with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Siddiqui received a BSc degree in plant protection from Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University in Pantnagar, India, as well as MS and PhD degrees in plant pathology, both from the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana.
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