Health Care 2025: WHYTE, DR. JOHN

An internist who has served in the federal government and as chief medical officer at WebMD, Whyte assumed leadership July 1 of the 178-year-old AMA, the nation’s major association of physicians. As of 2021, the association that advocates for physicians and works to better public health had 271,660 members.

Although Whyte travels to AMA’s Chicago headquarters, he resides in Northern Virginia.

He previously held leadership roles at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Discovery Channel, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Whyte also serves on Virginia’s Cannabis Public Health Advisory Council, which advises the governor on medical marijuana policy, and boards for the Alliance for Aging Research and the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia.

An author of five books, Whyte earned his medical degree from Hahnemann University School of Medicine and his master of public health from Harvard University.

INTERESTING PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: Chennai, India. I visited there while working on a documentary for Discovery Channel about the global epidemic of diabetes. People wanted to look “big” because that meant they were rich and successful. A very different mindset. ■

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