Mehmet Cengiz Öz (Turkish: [mehˈmet dʒeɲˈɟiz œz]; born June 11, 1960),^[1] known professionally as Dr. Oz, is a Turkish American^[2][3][4] television personality, cardiothoracic surgeon, Columbia University professor,^[5] pseudoscience promoter,^[6] and author.^[7] Oprah Winfrey was the first guest on the Discovery Channel series, Second Opinion with Dr. Oz in 2003.^[8] Oz became a regular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show beginning in 2004, and made more than sixty appearances.^[8] In 2009, The Dr. Oz Show, a daily television program focusing on medical issues and personal health, was launched by Winfrey's Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures Television.^[9]

He is a proponent of alternative medicine, and has been criticized by physicians, government officials, and publications, including Popular Science and The New Yorker, for endorsing unproven products and non-scientific advice. The British Medical Journal published a study that found more than half of the recommendations on medical talk series like The Dr. Oz Show contradicted medical research.^[10] Oz was criticized as an example of President Trump choosing "pundits over experts" after his appointment to the Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.^[11]

Oz was born in 1960 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Suna and Mustafa Öz, who had emigrated from Konya Province, Turkey.^[12][13] Mustafa, born in Bozkır, a small town in southern Turkey, earned scholarships that allowed him to emigrate to the United States as a medical resident in 1955. Suna (née Atabay), who comes from a wealthy Istanbul family, is the daughter of a pharmacist with Circassian (Shapsug) descent on her mother's side. Oz has two sisters, Seval Öz and Nazlim Öz.^[13][14]

Oz was educated at Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware.^[15] In 1982, he received his undergraduate degree in biology at Harvard University.^[16] He played safety on Harvard's football team and won an intramural college championship playing water polo.^[17] In 1986, he obtained MD and MBA degrees, respectively, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine^[15] and Penn's Wharton School.^[18] He was awarded the Captain's Athletic Award for leadership in college^[19] and was class president and then student body president during medical school.^[20]

In 1996, Ottavio Alfieri proposed to Oz that the mitral valve only needed one suture to close a leak. He developed the idea to use a catheter to put one staple in and submitted the patent for MitraClip in 1997.^[21] In the late 1990s, Oz began recommending ventricular assist devices as an alternative for patients with heart failure.^[22]

In 2010, Oz joined Jeff Arnold as co-founder of Sharecare, Inc.,^[23] providing an interactive question and answer platform for industry experts to answer health-related questions.^[24]

Oz was one of the developers of the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure for people with aortic stenosis. The chest is not opened during the procedure as a catheter is inserted through the groin.^[25]

Oz has been a professor at the Department of Surgery at Columbia University since 2001.^[26] He directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.^[27] His research interests include heart valve replacement surgery, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, and health care policy.

Oz appeared as a health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show for five seasons.^[28] In 2009, Winfrey offered to produce a syndicated series hosted by him through her company, Harpo Productions.^[29] The Dr. Oz Show debuted September 14, 2009, distributed by Sony Pictures Television.

On the show, Oz addressed issues like Type 2 diabetes^[30] and promoted resveratrol supplements, which he stated were anti-aging.^[31] His Transplant! television series won both a Freddie^[32] and a Silver Telly award.^[33] He served as medical director for Denzel Washington's John Q.^[34]

In January 2011, Oz premiered as part of a weekly show on OWN called "Oprah's Allstars". In each episode, he, Suze Orman, and Dr. Phil answer various questions about life, health and finance. He also currently does a health segment on 1010 WINS titled "Your Daily Dose".^[35]

On October 23, 2014, Surgeon Oz, showing Oz's career as a surgeon, debuted on OWN.^[36]

Oz has co-authored six New York Times bestsellers with Michael F. Roizen. He has a regular column in Esquire magazine and O, The Oprah Magazine and his article "Retool, Reboot, and Rebuild" was awarded the 2009 National Magazine Award for Personal Service.^[39] Oz and the Hearst Corporation launched the bi-monthly magazine Dr. Oz THE GOOD LIFE on February 4, 2014.^[40]

Oz has faced criticism due to his tendency to feature non-scientific and pseudoscientific advice. He has been supportive of homeopathy,^[41] and is a proponent of alternative medicine.^[42]

Oz is a spokesman and advisor for the website RealAge.com, which The New York Times has criticized for its pharmaceutical marketing practices.^[43]

His image and quotes have been exploited by many weight loss product scammers. While he himself has not been found to be involved in these scams, he has made statements that were exploited by scammers.^[44][43] During a Senate hearing on consumer protection, Senator Claire McCaskill stated that "the scientific community is almost monolithic against you" for airing segments on weight loss products that are later cited in advertisements, concluding that Oz plays a role, intentional or not, in perpetuating these scams, and that she is "concerned that you are melding medical advice, news, and entertainment in a way that harms consumers."^[45][42]

In September 2016, during his presidential campaign, Donald Trump appeared on The Dr. Oz Show.^[46] In the lead-up to the show's taping, Oz promoted Trump's appearance with a guarantee to obtain and ostensibly broadcast the exam's results.^[47] Several news outlets speculated that Trump's appearance aimed to appeal to The Dr. Oz Show's large female viewership.^[48][49] In 2018, Trump appointed Oz, athletes and The Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno to his Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. Trump's selections were criticized as choosing "pundits over experts" for the panel.^[50]

Popular Science^[51] and The New Yorker^[29] have published critical articles on Oz for giving "non-scientific" advice and questioning if he is "doing more harm than good"^[29]

The James Randi Educational Foundation has awarded Oz with their Pigasus Award, an award intended "to expose parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds that Randi has noted over the previous year."^[52] In 2009, Oz received the award for the promotion of energy therapies such as Reiki.^[53] In 2010, Oz received the award for support of faith healing and psychic communication with the dead, among other controversial practices. Oz became the first person to receive a Pigasus Award two years in a row.^[54] In 2012, Oz won "The Pigasus Award for Refusal to Face Reality" for his continued promotion of "quack medical practices, paranormal belief, and pseudoscience".^[55]

A 2014 study published in the British Medical Journal found that medical talk shows such as The Dr Oz Show and The Doctors often lack adequate information on the specific benefits or evidence of their claims. 40 episodes of each program from early 2013 were evaluated, determining that evidence supported 46 percent, contradicted 15 percent and was not found for 39 percent of the recommendations on The Dr Oz Show.^[11][10]

In April 2015, a group of ten physicians from prestigious institutions called for Columbia University to part ways with Oz, who was the vice chair of the Department of Surgery. More than 1,300 doctors signed a letter sent to the university.^[11][56]

Oz denounced the "hypocrisy" in the Drug Enforcement Administration's classification of cannabis as a Schedule I, controlled substance on Fox & Friends.^[57] He has advocated for medical marijuana as a solution for the opioid epidemic during an episode of the series featuring Montel Williams.^[58]

Oz has voiced his support of shutting down Backpage, a controversial website which was seized by U.S. authorities in April 2018. Backpage has earned millions of dollars by allowing sex ads to be hosted on its website, some of which featured children. The site has been supported by the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.^[59][60] The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) have been passed by the U.S. Congress in 2018 as a response to Backpage.^[61]

Oz lives in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, with his wife Lisa.^[62] They have been married since 1985^[63] and have four children. His eldest daughter is author and television host Daphne Oz. Oz and his wife founded HealthCorps, a non-profit organization for health education and peer mentoring.^[64]

Oz is fluent in English and Turkish.^[65] He is a holder of Turkish and American citizenship, having served in the Turkish Army to retain his Turkish citizenship.^[2]

Oz grew up in a mixed Muslim environment where his father's family practiced more traditional Islam, while his mother's family were more secular Muslims.^[66] Oz identifies himself as a Muslim^[67][68] and says that he has been influenced by the mysticism of Sufi Muslims from Central Turkey,^[69] as well as the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg, the 18th-century Swedish theologian, scientist, philosopher, revelator and mystic.^[70][71]

Oz is a practitioner of transcendental meditation. "When I meditate, I go to that place where truth lives," he said. "I can see what reality really is, and it is so much easier to form good relationships then."^[72]

In August 2010, Oz was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous polyp in the colon during a routine colonoscopy^[73] which was performed as part of his show. Oz said that the procedure likely saved his life.^[74]

In 2019, Oz played for the "Home" roster during the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game at the Bojangles' Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The roster was made up of celebrities with Carolina roots.^[75] He previously played in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.^[17] Also in 2019, Oz played for Team Cleveland in Major League Baseball's All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game at Progressive Field in Cleveland.^[76]

From 1999-2004, Oz was named a "Global Leader of Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum^[77] and was listed on Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" of 2008.^[78] He has been nominated for nine Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Talk Show Host since The Dr. Oz Show premiered in 2009, and won the award in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2016.^{[79][80][81][82]}