'Good Morning America' Anchor Dr. Jennifer Ashton Quits ABC After 13 Years

ABC News' chief medical correspondent is moving on to start her own business.

By Michael Hein

Long-time Good Morning America co-host and ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton is moving on. The doctor announced last month that she will be departing GMA3 in June to focus on her new women's wellness company, Ajenda. The network wished her well, and fans said they would be sad to lose her daily expertise.

Ashton announced the launch of Ajenda in March, and in April she gave a statement to The Hollywood Reporter explaining that she will be leaving ABC when her contract expires to focus on her new venture full-time. Ajenda aims to help women with the challenges of menopause and weight management specifically, playing to Ashton's strengths as an "obesity medicine specialist." Still, she acknowledged that it was hard to give up her place on GMA after 13 years on the air.

"I kind of subscribe to the fact that when the universe sends you a message, you should listen to it," Ashton said. "I've been watching and participating in the steadily building upswell of interest of those two areas in our country and in our society and in our culture and media and in medicine and in science. Sometimes an important message needs the right messenger, and I feel like there is no more critical time in this country for women's health, and for weight management."

"We're facing an obesity epidemic, and menopause and perimenopause and women's health is literally in a spotlight like never before," Ashton went on. "And I want to be the messenger for those messages. And so I'm excited about finally having the opportunity to just devote 100 percent of my time and effort into that, and using the skills that I've learned from being at the number one network for 13 years, I think are going to be really vital in that."

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Ashton said that her colleagues at ABC have been very supportive of this transition, including ABC News president Kim Godwin and head of the news and networks division Debra O'Connell. They even gave statements to THR praising Ashton and wishing her well on her new business.

Ashton is a board-certified OB/GYN and an Obesity Medicine Specialist. She joined ABC News in 2012 and became a co-host of GMA3 in March of 2020, when authoritative medical voices were needed the most. Ashton said that she thinks she will continue to appear on screen "in some shape or form," including possibly video content for Ajenda. For now, you can still see Ashton on air until her departure in June.

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