Dr. Mehmet Oz | Faces Of America - PBS

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Dr. Mehmet Oz

(Television Host/Heart Surgeon)

Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of The Dr. Oz Show, is Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery at Columbia University and directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He is the author of five New York Times Best Sellers (including “YOU: The Owner’s Manual,” “YOU: The Smart Patient,” and “YOU: On a Diet”), hosts a daily talk show on Sirius XM Radio’s “Oprah Radio,” pens a National Magazine Award-winning column in Esquire Magazine, is a regular columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine, and performs over 200 heart operations annually. Among his many accolades, Dr. Oz has been honored as one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” (2008), Esquire’s 75 “Most Influential People of the 21st Century,” and a “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum (1999-2004).

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised outside of Philadelphia, PA, Oz received his undergraduate degree from Harvard and a joint MD and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School. His medical philosophy combines traditional Western techniques for treating disease with alternative ideas about healthy lifestyle choices. Oz attributes this philosophy in part to his background, a Turkish heritage which “allows [him] to see the world from different perspectives.” Mehmet’s father, Mustafa, was born in Bozkir, a small town in the Konya Province of central Turkey. The child of a rather poor family, Mustafa excelled in school and earned scholarships that would eventually allow him passage to the United States as a resident in a Cleveland hospital in 1955. Dr. Oz’s mother, Suna, came from a wealthier lineage. Her ancestors include civil engineers, writers, and businessmen. Several of Suna’s great-grandparents were originally from the Caucasus mountain range but fled the area after its take-over in the 1860s by the Russian Empire. Dr. Oz now lives in Northern New Jersey with his wife and their four children.

About the Program

What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Harvard scholar turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans — professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, musician Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols, Her Majesty Queen Noor, television host/heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, actress Meryl Streep, and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

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