WASHINGTON — Dozens of Nobel Prize winners urged U.S. senators in a letter Monday to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President-elect Donald Trump's health and human services secretary. 

Citing Kennedy’s lack of science and medicine credentials, 77 Nobel laureates in medicine, chemistry, physics and economics said his confirmation to the Cabinet position would “put the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in the health sciences,” according to the letter published in The New York Times.

“We strongly urge you to vote against the confirmation of his appointment as Secretary of the DHHS,” they wrote in a letter signed by Nobel laureates that included Drew Weissman, who won the prize in 2023 for his contributions to developing COVID-19 vaccines, and 2024 winner Daron Acemoglu, who won for his work on how economic and political institutions affect countries’ development. 

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.

In November, Trump announced Kennedy as his pick to lead the federal agency that oversees the Centers for Disease Control, Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Prior to the election, Trump said he would let Kennedy “go wild” on food and medicine.

A former independent candidate for president, Kennedy adopted the slogan "Make America Healthy Again" when he dropped out of the race in August to back Trump. Kennedy has long been skeptical of mainstream medicine, including vaccines, HIV/AIDS treatment and water fluoridation.

To take the helm as health and human services secretary, Kennedy will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.