Dr. Ben Carson, head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, made an exclusive announcement to the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) today that he is retiring and leaving the practice of medicine in “106 days,” coinciding with his 62nd birthday this September. Carson said he wanted to leave while he was at “the top of my game”.

Carson made the shock announcement minutes ago in a speech before a few thousand conservative in the Potomac ballroom of the Gaylord convention center in National Harbor, MD. “If you were to put me in the White House…,” he said at one point during the speech, which sparked the audience of conservatives to their feet in a prolonged standing ovation and cheers calling for him to run.

When asked in a Q&A session if he was considering a run for politics, Carson laughed and declined to answer but added, “who knows what will happen?”

UPDATE: Full speech coverage HERE