Makary completed a surgical residency at
Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he also worked as a writer for the Advisory Board Company. Makary completed sub-specialty surgery training at Johns Hopkins in
surgical oncology and
gastrointestinal surgery under surgeon John Cameron, before joining Cameron's faculty practice as a partner. In his first few years on the faculty at Johns Hopkins, Makary researched and wrote articles on the prevention of surgical complications. He published on frailty as a medical condition, and on safety and teamwork culture in medicine. Makary is the first author of the original scientific publications describing "The Surgery Checklist". Makary worked with the
World Health Organization to develop the official World Health Organization Surgical Checklist. Makary was named Mark Ravitch Chair in Gastrointestinal Surgery, an endowed chair at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, becoming the youngest endowed chair recipient at the time at the university. Three years later, he was named the credentials chair and director of quality and safety for surgery at Johns Hopkins. Makary is a pancreatic surgeon and has pioneered novel surgical procedures. He was awarded the Nobility in Science Award by the National Pancreas Foundation for performing the world's first series of laparoscopic pancreas islet transplant operations. He has traveled with his international team overseas. Makary specializes in advanced
laparoscopic surgery and performed the first laparoscopic
Whipple surgery at Johns Hopkins and the first laparoscopic
Frey's procedure for pancreatitis. Makary's research led to several partnerships, including a grant from the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, to study obesity treatment, and a grant from the same agency to implement safety programs at 100 U.S. hospitals, a project he collaborated on with
Peter Pronovost and the
American College of Surgeons. Makary was also the lead author in the original paper introducing a Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Culture. Makary has called for the public reporting of physician-endorsed quality measures by hospitals. Makary also advocates for price transparency and has led efforts to ask hospitals to stop suing their low-income patients. In 2016, Makary and his colleagues exposed loopholes in the
Orphan Drug Act accounting for higher drug pricing. His article "The Orphan Drug Act: Restoring the Mission to Rare Diseases", covered by Kaiser Health News, led
Senator Chuck Grassley's office to announce an investigation. Makary, along with Michael Daniel, authored a piece in the British Medical Journal that claimed that medical error is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Multiple critics pointed out the article's poor methodology of how said number is calculated, suggesting the number they presented, just under half a million death per year, is likely an overestimate. Critics have claimed that such numbers give the public the wrong impression regarding the safety and quality of medical care, allowing groups like alternative medicine to further push people from seeking appropriate care. masking, vaccines and early vaccination strategies that prioritized maximum coverage against severe disease similar to the UK vaccination strategy, and protection provided by natural immunity. Makary has also been an outspoken opponent of
vaccine mandates, various FDA and CDC policies, and restrictions at colleges and universities. Makary had taken issue with the speed at which various US government health organizations had taken to evaluate medications or perform COVID-19-based research. In early February 2021, Makary advocated for prioritizing getting as many vaccinated with single doses versus holding vaccines back for second doses. The article's estimates of herd immunity were criticized for being higher than the best available data supported. Later that year, the
Delta and
Omicron variants of COVID-19 caused hundreds of thousands of additional deaths in the United States. Makary recommended a single-dose mRNA vaccine regimen for children 12-17 to minimize the occurrence of
myocarditis as a reaction, contrary to the CDC's finding that the risks of infection "far outweigh" those of the two-dose vaccine schedule. In December 2021, he appeared on a podcast to argue against vaccine boosters, referring to himself as an "unboosted male" and saying that the
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant was "nature's vaccine". On May 20, 2025, FDA commissioner Makary and
CBER director
Vinay Prasad published an article in
The New England Journal of Medicine announcing that the FDA would limit COVID-19 vaccines to people over 65 or at high risk of serious illness and would require manufacturers to conduct additional large studies to evaluate their benefits for children and healthy younger adults.
FDA commissioner On March 6, 2025, Makary met before the
U.S. Senate Committee on Heath, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). His nomination was advanced by the committee to a U.S. Senate vote with a vote of 14 to 9, and subsequently confirmed to the position on March 25, 2025 by a vote of 56 to 44. On July 14, 2025, Makary appeared on Fox News discussing FDA's new efforts to ban certain food dyes, during which he stated that the FDA is shifting towards using anecdotal evidence as data when regulating food products: "We have a lot of data and it may not necessarily be the traditional 50 year randomized control trial follow up. It's data from families that say their kids have been acting with bad behavior ... and they eliminate the petroleum-based food dyes and the behavior improves. That is data." Traditionally, the FDA has relied on expert panels which follow transparency rules regarding the disclosure of financial interests, and which usually release detailed memos to the public outlining their positions. Under Makary's leadership, the FDA has been hosting ad hoc "expert panels" composed of individuals with contrarian views and financial ties to the subject. His panel on the usage of estrogen-based drugs for menopause consisted mostly of doctors involved in a pharmaceutical industry campaign opposing FDA warning labels on the drugs. Nearly 80 researchers sent a letter objecting to the "two-hour meeting of hormone proponents" and calling for an official advisory meeting instead. Makary's informal panel recommended removal of the long-standing warning label on estrogen-based drugs, inline with Makary's belief that hormone replacement therapy for women "is basically a modern-day miracle". It's unclear if the FDA intends to base its regulatory decisions off the recommendations of these informal panels. Genevieve Kanter, a health policy specialist at the
University of Southern California, said these panels "seem more designed as a forum to put a stamp of approval on predetermined opinions," and that their recommendations could "could be used in litigation and presented as coming from experts or representing some intellectual consensus that doesn’t exist". ==Writings==