He ruled the operating room and then daytime TV. Now, Dr. Oz is set to take over a $1.5 trillion health agency

Mehmet Oz, seated in a cushioned chair before a studio audience, directed his two guests to a giant screen behind them. It showed a ghastly scene: rubber-gloved hands holding two live rats with tumors bigger than their heads protruding from their sides and bellies. They’d been fed genetically modified food as part of a study. 

It’s hardly the standard backdrop for someone now poised to lead a $1.5 trillion federal agency that oversees crucial health care programs for older adults, low-income Americans, and people with disabilities. But little about this famous surgeon-turned-TV host adheres to tradition. 

Oz, in a sleek gray suit, the overhead lights glinting off his voluminous hair, turned to the anti-GMO activist to his left and asked incredulously, “If these claims — and they are pretty serious ones — are true, how can it be this information is being ignored?” 

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