Parkinson’s Expert Visited the White House Eight Times in Eight Months

Parkinson’s Expert Visited the White House Eight Times in Eight Months

The White House said President Biden was seen by the neurologist three times during his three years in office and claimed that the visits of the doctor were in connection with treating others.

By Emily Baumgaertner, Peter Baker

Jul 09, 2024 02:43 AM

 

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The White House said President Biden had met with a neurologist only three times in more than three years in office, and implied that the doctor’s visits were related to treating other people.

President Biden departing Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in February. Credit… Pete Marovich for The New York Times

Emily Baumgaertner Peter Baker

By Emily Baumgaertner and Peter Baker

Emily Baumgaertner is the national health care correspondent. Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent.

An expert on Parkinson’s disease from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center visited the White House eight times in eight months from last summer through this spring, including at least once for a meeting with President Biden’s physician, according to official visitor logs.

The expert, Dr. Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders and recently published a paper on Parkinson’s. The logs, released by the White House, document visits from July 2023 through March of this year. More recent visits, if there have been any, would not be released until later under the White House’s voluntary disclosure policy.

It was unclear whether Dr. Cannard was at the White House to consult specifically about the president or was there for unrelated meetings. Dr. Cannard’s LinkedIn page describes him as “supporting the White House Medical Unit” for more than 12 years. His biography on Doximity , a website for health professionals, lists him as a “neurology consultant to the White House Medical Unit and the physician to the president” from 2012 to 2022, which would include the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump.

Records from the Obama administration, when Mr. Biden was vice president, show that Dr. Cannard made at least 10 visits in 2012 plus a family tour; four in 2013; one in 2014; four in 2015; and eight in 2016. Mr. Trump rescinded Mr. Obama’s voluntary White House visitors disclosure policy, so records are not available for his four years in office.

Dr. Cannard did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In a statement released at 9:40 p.m. on Monday, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the White House physician, confirmed that Dr. Cannard had seen Mr. Biden three times during the three and a half years of his presidency, but did not directly say whether any of his other visits were related to consulting on the president’s health.

Instead, Dr. O’Connor implied that most of Dr. Cannard’s visits were related to treating other people who work at the White House. “Prior to the pandemic, and following its end, he has held regular neurology clinics at the White House Medical Clinic in support of the thousands of active-duty members assigned in support of White House operations,” Dr. O’Connor wrote.

 

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