John J. Whyte, MD, MPH
Physician/Executive/Strategist and Policy Expert
Dr. John Whyte is a physician and corporate executive with a unique combination of government and private sector work that provides him with an exceptional perspective on wellness, clinical trials, information technology, innovation, and health care services.
He is currently the Chief Medical Officer, WebMD. In this role, Dr. Whyte leads efforts to develop and expand strategic partnerships that create meaningful change around important and timely public health issues. He has been a leading voice in addressing the COVID pandemic, being named as one of the top 20 health influencers. Dr. Whyte is also a major contributor to iterating digital platforms from simply providing content, to instead playing a pivotal role in connecting to care. He frequently speaks on evaluating digital tools and technologies, assessing their roles in the evolving health ecosystem.
Prior to WebMD, Dr. Whyte served as the Director of Professional Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement at the Center for Drugs Evaluation and Research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In this role, Dr. Whyte spearheaded numerous efforts to address diversity in drug development programs especially as it relates to necessary changes in clinical trial design. This includes strategies around patient recruitment and acquisition, as well as the use of adaptive clinical trial design and master protocols. Dr. Whyte also helped provide regulatory insight into the potential uses of real-world evidence in regulatory decisions, especially around patient-focused drug development. Dr. Whyte led a research agenda around drug safety issues, including prescription and over-the-counter products.
Prior to this, Dr. Whyte worked for nearly a decade as the Chief Medical Expert and Vice President, Health and Medical Education at Discovery Channel, the leading non-fiction television network. Dr. Whyte developed, designed and delivered educational programming that appealed to both a medical and lay audience. He provided strategic direction, aligning medical and public health interests, viewer demands and corporate funding opportunities. This required the use of targeted multimedia marketing and building brand identity for new products. This included television shows as well as online content that won over 50 awards including numerous Tellys, CINE Golden Eagle, and Freddies. During his tenure, Dr. Whyte grew the business ten-fold in revenue.
Dr. Whyte also served in numerous leadership roles at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. While there, he formalized the process by which the Medicare program determines coverage decisions, including the criteria meant by "medically necessary and reasonable." He helped determine, evaluate and implement the national Medicare coverage policies on medical items, non-implantable medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and laboratory tests. He also oversaw an ongoing analysis of innovative treatment patterns and activities that improve health care outcomes. He is a recognized expert on various payment policies and models.
Dr. Whyte is a board-certified internist and continues to see patients. He completed an internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center as well as earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Policy and Management at Harvard University School of Public Health. Prior to arriving in Washington, Dr. Whyte was a health services research fellow at Stanford and attending physician in the Department of Medicine. He has written extensively in the medical and lay press, including two best-selling books.
