Scott William Atlas (born July 5, 1955)[1][2] is an American radiologist, political commentator, and health care policy advisor.

He is the Robert Wesson Senior Fellow in health care policy at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank located at Stanford University.

[3] Atlas was selected by President Donald Trump in August 2020 to serve as an advisor on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

[4] In that role, Atlas at times said misinformation about COVID-19, such as theories that face masks and social distancing were not effective in slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

He has also called for changes to Medicare[26] and "aggressive reforms" to turn Medicaid "into a bridge to private insurance"[27] and encourage health savings accounts.

[37] He expressed skepticism that face masks help prevent the spread of the virus,[38] including in a tweet in October 2020 that Twitter removed after determining it was not accurate.

Later that day, HHS official Brett Giroir, the Assistant Secretary for Health, reaffirmed that masks did work to prevent transmission of the virus.

[42] He advised that the virus should be allowed to spread naturally among people deemed at low risk, while protecting the most vulnerable populations, so as to gain herd immunity.

[38][7] Atlas later denied that he advocated for the herd immunity strategy,[43][44] said "there's never been a desire to have cases spread through the community," and said it "has never been the president's policy.

[32] Trump publicly disagreed with or reduced the roles of other members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, including Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci,[14][9] with whom Atlas repeatedly clashed.

"[9] In mid-November 2020, it was reported that Atlas had not attended White House task force meetings in person since late September amid his clashes with Fauci and Birx.

[57][58] In November 2023, Atlas gave a presentation at the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at University of Colorado Boulder titled "Restoring Trust After COVID".

[65][66] In November 2020, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer denounced the tweet as "incredibly reckless"[65] and Fauci said: "I totally disagree with it, and I made no secret of that.

"[6] The same month, the Stanford University Faculty Senate, by an 85% vote, adopted a resolution condemning Atlas for his actions that "promote a view of COVID-19 that contradicts medical science."