What We Know About Trump's Doctor Sean Conley

By Dana Cruz First Posted: Oct 05, 2020 03:21 AM EDT

U.S. Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician, speaks about U.S. President Donald Trump's health, in Bethesda

(Photo : REUTERS/Erin Scott) Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician speaks to the media about U.S. President Donald Trump's health at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S., October 4, 2020.

Dr. Sean Conley, President Donald Trump's doctor and White House physician, has been the man people have looked to for answers on the president's health since his COVID-19 diagnosis was announced.

But on Saturday's press conference, Conley failed to answer some questions about the president's condition that raised some doubt in the medical community.

Trump's doctor started having questions about his qualifications thrown his way. On top of that, many placed doubt on him since he agreed to have Trump take an unproven drug, hydroxychloroquine, in May.

Conley showed a "lack of transparency" as Trump's doctor said Professor Peter Chin-Hong of University of California, San Francisco. Chin-Hong told Business Insider that there was a disorganized presentation of clinical data.

"It was veiled and not logical and not easy to follow," he said.

So, to clarify some questions about Conley's medical training, here are some facts about the White House doctor.

He Worked for the Military

According to Conley's profile on LinkedIn, he was an emergency physician with the U.S. Navy since 2006. But his medical training doesn't end there.

He obtained a bachelor's degree at Notre Dame University. After graduating from Notre Dame, he earned his medical degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He was also deployed to a NATO hospital in Afghanistan for seven months.

His Promotion Wasn't Taken Lightly

At the Naval Medical Center, he also served a variety of roles. Four years after this stint, he landed his job as White House physician in 2018.

NBC News said in a report that the White House physician before him, Dr. Ronny Jackson, personally picked Conley to replace him.

Two sources said many people in the Medical Unit found Conley's promotion to be "unfair." They claimed that the doctor was put into a high position without proper vetting.

But White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said otherwise. He said Conley was "an imminently [sic] qualified talented physician with a wealth of experience" that was needed to serve the president.

He Doesn't Have an MD

Conley doesn't hold a Doctor of Medicine, or MD. Instead, he is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, also known as a DO.

It appears that he is the first White House physician to hold a DO since Congress established the position, said a report from The DO.

A DO has a deep emphasis on a "whole-body" approach to medicine. It uses holistic medicine and disease prevention to treat a patient instead of using isolation of symptoms.

While it has a different approach, DO allows its doctors to get licensed under the same state boards as MDs. They also have almost the same training and can prescribe medication in all U.S. states.

DOs also have to go through 200 hours of coursework beyond the general medical school curriculum.

A Press Conference Went Badly

Conley held a briefing for the first time on Saturday to discuss Trump's health. But during this press conference, there were still many questions left unanswered.

Conley dodged many critical questions and wouldn't say if Trump received supplemental oxygen. He also failed to say when the president last tested negative or how high Trump's fever had been.

Conley managed to answer questions on the supplemental oxygen by Sunday, but the public was still left in the dark.

"Traditionally, anyway, when presidents have been sick, the public actually gets a lot of information about the leader of the country," Chin-Hong said.

It is possible that Conley was stopped from saying certain information to the public.

Chin-Hong said there might be pressure from Conley's patient. "If there is pressure to say certain things and not to say certain things, that could be part of the game as well," he said.