Facebook/Governor Ron DeSantis Dr. Joseph Ladapo as pictured in a press conference shared on Governor Ron DeSantis' Facebook page.
Dr. Joseph Ladapo is Florida’s new surgeon general. Who is Ladapo’s wife, Brianna Ladapo, and his family? Brianna Ladapo is a health and wellness coach, a writer, and a mother of three. Joseph Ladapo once wrote a column about his wife for The Washington Post, sharing what they went through seeking medical treatment for a chronic illness.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Ladapo as the new state surgeon general on September 21, a press statement shared. Ladapo said at a press conference that he was advocating for public health, but will “reject fear as a way of making policies,” CBS News reported. He said vaccines should be an individual decision, not a mandate, and that the state would promote other health measures like a better diet, exercising, and losing weight. He also said that parents will get “sole discretion” over whether their children wear masks in schools, The Daily Beast reported.
Ladapo is married to Brianna Ladapo, a health and wellness coach, according to her LinkedIn profile. They have three children, DeSantis’ press release shared. Ladapo, who was born in Nigeria, immigrated to the United States when he was five. His dad is a microbiologist who taught biology at North Carolina Central University, The Harvard Gazette reported in 2008.
1. Brianna Ladapo Is a Health & Wellness Coach
While the state’s announcement about Ladapo does not name his wife, Ladapo does list Brianna Ladapo as his wife on his Facebook page. According to Brianna Ladapo’s LinkedIn profile, she’s a health and wellness coach.
She describes herself on LinkedIn this way: “Highly creative and dynamic Communications Professional with over fifteen years of progressive experience transforming original ideas and concepts into effective outreach tools seeking to partner with an innovative enterprise to bring equity, hope, and transformation to the lives of citizens worldwide.”
In a bio she wrote on an older Blogger website, Ladapo shared that she is “very passionate about nutrition, wellness, and holistic health.”
2. She’s a Former Director of Communications at NYU School of Medicine
According to both her Facebook and her LinkedIn profiles, Ladapo is the former director of communications at NYU School of Medicine, where she worked until 2014 in the Department of Population Health.
She describes her role this way: “Design and implement an original, aggressive communications strategy focused on establishing DPH’s presence at NYUMC and among other successful cost-effectiveness groups nationwide. Build close, interpersonal relationships with public relations and media officials to facilitate the establishment of DPH physician-researchers as experts in their fields and increase notoriety of the section’s research and community outreach.”
She wrote that she redesigned many websites and created a thriving social media presence.
Before that, she was the Assistant Director of Annual Giving at Harvard Medical School, her profiles noted. Her LinkedIn profile further shared that she’s currently a health and wellness coach, along with being a director at East Coast Promotions.
3. She Wrote in 2020 That the Pandemic Was Being Used to ‘Stoke Fear & Manipulate the Public … with Misinformation’
In a Facebook post on March 24, 2040, Brianna Ladapo shared that her husband — as a physician at UCLA — was on the team that was treating COVID-19 patients. She said the unpredictability of the virus and the lack of basic protective gear were surreal. However, she added, the most defeating aspect was how the virus was being used to create fear in the public. She shared the note along with a link to a USA Today article written by her husband.
She wrote:
Good morning Facebook family. I dearly hope you are all healthy and safe. I’ve been on a social media embargo for a couple of weeks, as my energy is needed elsewhere, but I’m popping in to share my husband’s latest article, as it’s an important read.
As most of you are aware, he is a physician at UCLA, and is on the team that’s treating COVID-19 patients. The experience has been surreal in many ways; the unpredictability of this virus, its ease of transmission, the hospital’s dearth of basic protective gear for healthcare workers, and the utter lack of preparedness of our healthcare system to handle the necessary volume of patients are all challenging our ability to curb this crisis.
However, arguably the most defeating aspect of this pandemic is the way it’s being used to stoke fear and manipulate the public–particularly with misinformation–into paying an even greater price than we are already condemned to pay.
It’s critical to remain properly informed and realistic about where we actually are if we ever hope to surmount this. I wish you all great health, love, peace, and clarity in the days to come.
In the article, Joseph Ladapo shared that there was already too much community spread to stop hospitals from becoming overwhelmed whenever restrictions are ultimately lifted.
He wrote: “The only potential savior that would prevent this scenario is an effective vaccine, but the estimates I’ve seen put us 12–18 months away from making that a reality. Clinical trials are underway and will hopefully yield effective treatment, but a cure is unlikely. Either way, the models indicate that our hospitals, at current capacity, will be overwhelmed, with or without shutdowns.”
His suggestion, he said, was to keep the economy going, keep shutdowns short, and “focus single-mindedly on building the capacity we need to survive this into our health care system. We desperately need more intensive care unit beds and ventilators to give the severely ill a chance of survival: Borrow them, buy them, build them, convert structures to coronavirus-dedicated centers, etc. We must do whatever is necessary — and do it yesterday. And for heaven’s sake, where on earth are the COVID-19 tests?”
4. She Had a Chronic, Debilitating Illness & Her Husband Wrote a Column About How They Finally Found Help
In 2016, Joseph Ladapo wrote a column for The Washington Post about his experience when his wife had a chronic, debilitating illness. He said she went through seven hospitalizations and a number of ER visits that taught him a lot about the healthcare system in the U.S. For example, he said she developed thrombophlebitis from an IV. Despite being in pain, both she and Ladapo didn’t push when the nurse told them everything was fine. But later they realized it really hadn’t been OK after all and they should have pushed for the source of her pain to be investigated more.
He also shared that they needed unconventional treatments from a neurologist and a pain specialist to finally help with her “excruciating pain” from her illness. He shared that he had to do extensive research before finding a neurologist in Texas who “connected us to a preeminent neurologist in New York whose new, unconventional ideas finally began helping her and gave her relief..”
5. She Writes Poetry & Had a Blog with Healthy Recipes
In a bio she wrote on an older Blogger website dating about 10 years ago, Ladapo described herself as having written “feature articles, award-winning poetry and works of fiction” that “have been featured in several publications nationwide, including National Geographic, Natural Health Journals, and LIVESTRONG.”
Her blog, with the last post dated in 2013, shared a number of healthy recipes that she recommended or even invented herself. One of her posts included a vegan recipe for toffee, her favorite holiday candy.
Brianna Ladapo’s LinkedIn profile shared that she has a Master’s in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard. She also has a bachelor’s in English Literature from the University of California, Davis.
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