Dr. David J. Weldon

Dr. Weldon is a distinguished physician and former U.S. Congressman whose career in medicine and public service has been marked by a steadfast commitment to patient advocacy, medical ethics, and rigorous scrutiny of public-health policy, particularly concerning vaccine safety and its potential links to autism spectrum disorders. A graduate of Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry in 1978 and the University at Buffalo School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D. in 1981, he began as a U.S. Army physician, serving on active duty from 1981 to 1987 and in the Army Reserve until 1992.

Following his military service, he established a private internal-medicine practice in Florida, caring for thousands of patients over more than four decades, and has served as president of the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries since 2017. Representing Florida’s 15th congressional district from 1995 to 2009, he became a founding member of the Congressional Autism Caucus and a leading voice on vaccine safety, particularly the role of thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative, in childhood vaccines and its alleged association with rising autism rates.

In 2002, during a House Government Reform Committee hearing on “Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic,” Dr. Weldon highlighted unresolved questions about thimerosal’s safety. In 2024 he was nominated by President Trump as CDC director; his confirmation was blocked in Congress.