U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Adds Eight New Members to Resume Preventive Health Work
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the US Health Secretary, announced Thursday the appointment of eight new members to the advisory council that determines which preventative medical services, such routine cancer screening or HIV prevention, should be provided at no cost under health insurance plans.
The Preventive Services Task Force, with 16 members, generally meets three times a year, and its most recent meeting was a year ago. This new slate's makeup is a major shift from the Task Force's regular membership.
“We think a strong primary care voice needs to remain in the center of its work,” said Willie Underwood, president of the American Medical Association.
AMA Calls for a Transparent, Independent Process
The AMA said recommendations should continue to be based on a transparent, rigorous and independent scientific approach, while considering the viewpoints of physicians who deliver preventative care.
This would be important to continue to earn clinicians’ trust in the task force and encourage patients to follow the group’s recommendations, it said.
A Panel Reshaped Amid Broader Health Agency Overhaul
Kennedy Jr. has revamped many federal health advisory groups, including the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, replacing its members after firing the whole panel last year.
Last June, a US Supreme Court decision put Kennedy Jr. in charge of the preventive care committee. The verdict, and the government’s shutdown in 2025, had kept the panel from meeting in November. And a meeting in March was postponed.
This May, Kennedy Jr. reshuffled the chair and vise chair of the powerful task panel.
What Health Advocates and Analysts Are Saying
“The USPSTF has important work ahead to ensure critical recommendations catch up with the latest science so patients can access lifesaving, preventive services like cancer screenings,” said Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
“The new appointments provide incremental confidence that the task force is heading in the right direction and more updates can be expected soon enough,” analysts at Evercore ISI said.
The panel's recommendations are a big driver for cancer screening tests like Guardant Health's, opens new tab Shield blood test, the analysts said.
Meet the Eight New Members
New members are pediatric hematologist-oncologist Seth Corey, pediatrician Patrick Hunter and cardiovascular specialist Ronald Karlsberg. Stephen Parente, who specializes in health finance, joins the panel.
Also named as members were professor of preventive cardiology Venkatesh Murthy, family medicine physician Goldie Stands-Over-Bull, gastrointestinal expert Louis Wilson and diagnostic radiologist Dennis Wulfeck.
The panel is an independent, volunteer, expert panel. AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Health and Human Services) supports the panel.
Rebuilding More Than the Roster
Meanwhile, Dr. Aaron Carroll, chief executive of AcademyHealth, an association of health researchers and policy analysts, said reconstituting the task force was a necessary start but “putting people back in the chairs doesn't rebuild the evidence system they need to do their job.”
