A specialist in Parkinson’s disease from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has been to the White House on eight occasions in the span of eight months, from last summer to this spring, with at least one meeting with President Biden’s physician, according to official visitor logs.
The expert, Dr. Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist focusing on movement disorders and recently published a paper on Parkinson’s. The logs, released by the White House, cover visits from July 2023 to March of this year. Any more recent visits would be disclosed later under the White House’s voluntary policy.
It is unclear whether Dr. Cannard was specifically at the White House to consult on the president’s health or for other reasons. Dr. Cannard’s LinkedIn profile states that he has been “supporting the White House Medical Unit” for over 12 years. His biography on Doximity, a platform for healthcare professionals, lists him as a “neurology consultant to the White House Medical Unit and the physician to the president” from 2012 to 2022, covering the terms of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump.
Records from the Obama administration, when Mr. Biden was vice president, show that Dr. Cannard visited at least 10 times in 2012 plus a family tour; four times in 2013; once in 2014; four times in 2015; and eight times in 2016. President Trump revoked President Obama’s voluntary White House visitors disclosure policy, so there are no records available for his tenure.
Dr. Cannard did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In a statement released at 9:40 p.m. on Monday, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the White House physician, confirmed that Dr. Cannard had seen President Biden three times during his presidency but did not directly address whether the visits were related to the president’s health.
Dr. O’Connor suggested that most of Dr. Cannard’s visits were related to treating other White House staff. “Prior to and after the pandemic, he conducted regular neurology clinics at the White House Medical Clinic in support of the active-duty members working at the White House,” Dr. O’Connor stated.
Confirming an earlier statement by a White House spokesperson, Dr. O’Connor mentioned that President Biden had seen Dr. Cannard annually as part of his comprehensive physical checkup and that the latest examination did not show any signs of Parkinson’s. “President Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical,” Dr. O’Connor added.
Dr. Cannard met with Dr. O’Connor and Dr. John Atwood, a cardiologist at Walter Reed, on Jan. 17, along with another individual in the early evening at the White House residence clinic, according to the logs. This meeting took place a month before President Biden’s most recent annual physical checkup at Walter Reed on Feb. 28.
Following that checkup, a six-page letter released by Dr. O’Connor stated that the president’s medical team conducted a detailed neurological examination that did not reveal any signs of Parkinson’s, stroke, or other central neurological issues. The letter did not mention whether the examination included tests for cognitive decline or signs of dementia, typically recommended for older adults.
The White House has maintained that there has been no need for further evaluation since February. Concerns about President Biden’s health, particularly regarding Parkinson’s, have surfaced since his challenging debate with Mr. Trump on June 27. In recent interviews with ABC News and MSNBC, President Biden stated that the demands of the presidency effectively constitute a daily neurological test.
Visitor logs, also reported by other news outlets such as The New York Post and The Guardian, show that Dr. Cannard’s first recorded visit during the Biden administration was on Nov. 15, 2022. The logs indicate that he met with Joshua Simmons, whose role is unspecified.
Dr. Cannard’s subsequent eight visits began on July 28, 2023, with most visits involving meetings with Megan Nasworthy, a White House liaison to Walter Reed. These meetings typically took place early in the morning on Fridays, except for the last meeting on Thursday, March 28. The logs also mention a 10th visit that seemed to be a family tour of the White House.
Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, clarified that while the president has regular physicians with him at all times, he has not seen specialists in Delaware, where he has private residences.
Around the time of these visits, Dr. Cannard published a research paper in the journal Parkinsonism & Related Disorders focusing on the early stages of Parkinson’s.
Several neurologists who have not examined President Biden personally noted symptoms in his public appearances that align with Parkinson’s or similar conditions, such as hypophonic speech, a stooped posture, a shuffling gait, a masked face, and irregular speech patterns. However, they emphasized that a definitive diagnosis would require a direct examination.
White House officials reiterated that President Biden has shown no signs of Parkinson’s and that Dr. O’Connor found no reason to reassess him for the disease since his February physical. Mr. Bates also mentioned that the president has never taken Levodopa or other drugs for Parkinson’s.
During an interview with ABC News, President Biden declined to agree to an independent neurological and cognitive examination, stating that the demands of the presidency serve as a daily cognitive test.
Speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” President Biden reaffirmed that his debate performance anomalies were due to a minor ailment or infection and not indicative of a larger medical issue.
