The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is getting eight new members, part of an effort by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to broaden the panel's clinical expertise and sharpen the scientific basis of its recommendations on preventive care.
The appointments, announced through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, add physicians and researchers with backgrounds in pediatrics, oncology, cardiology, radiology, gastroenterology, family medicine, health economics, and clinical research. Dr. Seth Corey, who has 41 years of experience caring for children and young adults and specializes in cancer and blood disorders, will chair the Task Force.
The Task Force carries unusual weight in American medicine. Its recommendations guide how doctors screen for disease and how patients weigh decisions about prevention. Under federal law, private health plans generally must cover preventive services that receive an A or B grade from the panel without charging patients cost-sharing. That link between expert judgment and insurance coverage gives the group's work consequences well beyond the examination room.
Kennedy said the goal is not to dictate the panel's conclusions but to strengthen the expertise applied to the evidence. The Task Force, he said, will remain scientifically independent, and HHS will not direct its findings. At the same time, he argued that independence should not insulate the group from rigorous debate, noting that specialists can spot implications in evidence that others might miss — a cardiologist on cardiovascular screening, a radiologist on imaging questions, a pediatrician on how recommendations affect children and families.
The new members bring decades of frontline practice. Dr. Patrick Hunter has practiced pediatrics for 34 years and has experience implementing clinical guidelines, including in rural communities. Dr. Ronald Karlsberg has spent 48 years providing cardiovascular care. Dr. Venkatesh Murthy adds expertise in preventive cardiology, medical imaging, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. Dr. Goldie Stands-Over-Bull practices family medicine and provides comprehensive care to Native American patients across the lifespan. Dr. Louis Wilson brings nearly three decades in gastroenterology, hepatology, clinical nutrition, disease prevention, and early detection. Dr. Dennis Wulfeck has practiced diagnostic radiology for 33 years, and Dr. Stephen Parente brings three decades of research on health policy, health care delivery, and their effects on patients.
The appointments also settle a question raised last year, when Kennedy was reported to be considering dismissing every member of the Task Force. Instead, eight members appointed during the Biden administration will continue to serve. Kennedy described the outcome as reform rather than wholesale replacement, preserving institutional knowledge while adding clinical and scientific expertise.
The panel has traditionally drawn heavily from primary care, preventive medicine, and experts trained in evaluating medical evidence. Kennedy said those perspectives remain essential but argued that prevention extends beyond any single discipline, encompassing cancer detection, cardiovascular disease, medical imaging, pediatric care, diagnostic technologies, and chronic disease.
The changes arrive as the country confronts rising rates of chronic illness. Kennedy said medicine cannot solve that crisis through treatment alone and called for prevention to be placed at the center of American health care. The Task Force, he said, must follow the evidence wherever it leads, weigh benefits against harms, and apply high standards of scientific integrity to every recommendation.