Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson was sworn in on Wednesday as the chief representative of the Make America Healthy Again adviser to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he is expected to help update dietary guidelines for federal food programs.
The USDA announced that Carson was tapped by Secretary Brooke Rollins and President Donald Trump as the National Advisor for Nutrition, Health, and Housing for the department, which is slated to be working on “nutrition, rural healthcare quality, and housing accessibility.”
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“There is no one more qualified than Dr. Carson to advise on policies that improve Americans’ everyday quality of life, from nutrition to healthcare quality to ensuring families have access to safe and stable housing,” Rollins said in a press statement Wednesday afternoon.
Carson, a nationally renowned pediatric neurosurgeon who ran against Trump for the Republican Party nomination in the 2016 election, served as HUD director during the first Trump administration. He was also on the short list of speculated picks to lead the Department of Health and Human Services before Trump chose Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Rollins said at an event at the White House on Wednesday afternoon that Carson will play a “major role” in the development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a complex policy document that sets nutrition standards for all federal food assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The DGAs are jointly created by USDA and HHS and are renewed every five years. In addition to SNAP, the nutrition guidelines in the DGAs set the standard for the federal school lunch program, the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program, or WIC, and military food programs.
Rollins said that the DGAs will be made public “most likely next month,” a few months before the statutory deadline of the end of 2025.
Kennedy has made the dietary guidelines a cornerstone of his MAHA agenda at HHS. They were also a central feature of the policy goals report from the president’s MAHA Commission, which outlined top nutrition policy priorities for both HHS and USDA.
Carson said in a press release on Wednesday that he is looking forward to helping “fulfill President Trump’s vision for a healthier, stronger America.”
“Today, too many Americans are suffering from the effects of poor nutrition. Through common-sense policymaking, we have an opportunity to give our most vulnerable families the tools they need to flourish,” said Carson.
USDA announced that Carson would work with leadership in the department’s Rural Development Mission Area, an outreach program that provides financial resources for businesses and residents of rural communities, including housing assistance.
“With six in ten Americans living with at least one chronic disease, and rural communities facing unique challenges with respect to adequate housing, Dr. Carson’s insight and experience is critical,” Rollins said.
Rollins also said that Carson “will be crucial to implementing the rural health investment provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill,” passed by congressional Republicans this summer through the Rural Hospital Transformation Fund.
The $50 billion Rural Hospital Transformation Fund, which divides $10 billion between states each year until 2030, is being organized primarily by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, headed by Dr. Mehmet Oz.
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Although $5 billion of those annual funds will be divided evenly among the 50 states, CMS is currently reviewing applications from state governments for supplemental programs. State applications are due in November, and funds will be distributed on Jan. 1.