Mehmet Cengiz, better known by his stage name Dr. Oz, was born on June 11, 1960,[2] in the United States. He is also a physician, author, professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University, and a previous candidate for public office.
Oz, the son of Turkish immigrants, attended Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania before growing up in Wilmington, Delaware. Oz, who holds dual citizenship in the United States and Turkey, served in the Turkish Army during the 1980s for 60 days of required training, which was designed especially for nationals who live abroad, in order to keep his Turkish citizenship[5][6]. After that, in 1986, he started his surgical residency at Columbia University Irving Medical Centre. At Columbia University, Oz started teaching surgery in 2001, and in 2018 he retired to become a professor emeritus.
Dr. Oz appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show often, making more than sixty appearances, and was the first guest on Oprah Winfrey's Discovery Channel programme Second Opinion with Dr. Oz in 2003. The Dr. Oz Show, a daily television programme about medicine and health that ran for 13 seasons, was introduced in 2009 by Winfrey's Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures Television. Numerous medical periodicals and doctors have criticised Oz for endorsing pseudoscience, notably on the subjects of alternative medicine, faith healing, and numerous paranormal beliefs.
As a traditional Republican, Oz ran for the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat in 2022. He was the first Muslim to get a major party nomination for the U.S. Senate.