Surgeon general to step down as Biden requested

President-elect Joe Biden has asked for the resignation of Surgeon General Jerome Adams, bringing the tenure of the nation's top doctor to an abrupt end as Biden looks to reboot the federal government's pandemic response.

Adams confirmed his plans to step down in a tweet on Wednesday morning, calling it the “honor of my life to serve this Nation.”

“I hope in 2021 and beyond, we can focus more on what unites us, and rise above what divides us,” he wrote in a subsequent Facebook post.

An anesthesiologist and former Indiana health commissioner, Adams was confirmed in Sept. 2017 to serve a four-year term as surgeon general — becoming just the second African American to fill the post. He would eventually play a key role in communicating public health measures to prevent against Covid-19, especially with minority communities devastated by the virus. But Adams came under criticism from Democrats, who said he didn't do enough to push back against President Donald Trump's efforts to downplay the pandemic.

His Inauguration Day ouster will cut his tenure short by roughly six months and likely leave Biden without a permanent surgeon general for weeks, as the incoming administration ramps up its Covid-19 response.