Physician to the President

The physician to the president is the formal and official title of the physician who the president chooses to be his personal physician. Often, the physician to the president also serves as the director of the White House Medical Unit, a unit of the White House Military Office responsible for the medical needs of the president of the United States, vice president, White House staff, and visitors. The physician to the president is also the chief White House physician. History Doctors who have treated the president of the United States have had a variety of titles. Presley Marion Rixey, a medical inspector in the United States Navy, was the first individual to serve in a full-time capacity as a physician to the president beginning in 1901. However, the title "White House Physician" was not used until created by an act of Congress in 1928. It has been unclear if this legal position of White House physician rests with the physician to the president or the director of the White House Medical Unit. Organization and role The White House physician has an office inside the White House. The location of their medical unit plays an important role in keeping the president of the United States healthy. They also oversee a staff that is typically composed of five military physicians, five physician assistants, five nurses, three paramedics, three administrators, and one IT manager. The physician to the president is metaphorically the "shadow of the president" because they (or one of the physicians assigned to the White House Medical Unit) are always close at hand whether the president is at the White House, overseas, on the campaign trail, or aboard presidential plane Air Force One; Daniel Ruge, for example, was nearby during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, and supervised the president's immediate treatment.