A CNN report raising “concerns” about President Donald Trump’s health unraveled Tuesday after it was revealed that the so-called physician cited in the piece isn’t a practicing doctor.
Chris Pernell, identified as a “Health Equity” advisor for the NAACP, gained attention for claiming Trump’s chronic venous insufficiency was more serious than the White House acknowledged. The condition, common among older adults, involves impaired blood flow due to weakened or damaged valves in the leg veins.
“It is a disease that is progressive,” Pernell told the outlet. “And what that means is that if there aren’t conservative treatments, elevation, compression, medication, if needed, to treat accompanying ulcers or skin changes, it can worsen and actually put a person at risk for deep venous thrombosis.”
She went on to suggest that Trump’s condition could be aggravated by underlying factors such as his diet and high stress levels. “If a person is sitting or standing for prolonged amounts of time, you can get chronic venous insufficiency, and while it is not life-threatening, it can be debilitating,” she added. “You can develop ulcers in addition to skin discoloration. And if a person develops ulcers, you want to make sure those ulcers aren’t infected.”
The Free Beacon reported that while Pernell earned her M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine, there’s no evidence she practiced medicine beyond her residency. Her LinkedIn profile lists a residency at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a program centered on epidemiology rather than direct patient care—raising questions about her clinical experience.
Following her training, Pernell took a job as “Chief Strategic Integration and Health Equity Officer” at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. While there, she claims to have drafted the first “equity and inclusion strategy,” hired the hospital’s first “director of equity and inclusion,” and instituted mandatory implicit bias and structural racism training.
Pernell has previously clashed with hospital leadership, she revealed in a 2022 interview. She was investigated over social media posts criticizing Trump and Republicans, including one where she equated vaccine skeptics with white supremacists.
