President Donald Trump's new nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Casey Means, is unlike most prior figures who have held the position. A "wellness influencer" with links to the Trump-adjacent Make America Healthy Again movement, Means was nominated by the president to replace his first choice for surgeon general, former Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat.
While she has a medical degree, Means has never worked in government. And her closeness to divisive HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is also causing alarm in the health care industry.
Background Means, 37, is a well-known health influencer in the conservative internet space. She graduated from Stanford Medical School but dropped out of her surgical residency program at Oregon Health & Science University.
She eventually started a "functional medicine practice and founded the company Levels, which offers consumers continuous glucose monitors and an app to track their blood sugar," said NPR. Means had an Oregon medical license granted in 2014 but it was rendered inactive in 2024, according to the state's medical board.
Nomination Trump nominated Means for surgeon general because she has "impeccable MAHA credentials," said the president on Truth Social, referencing the "health-conscious" movement heralded by RFK Jr. Means has "echoed some of Kennedy's skepticism of vaccines, calling on the new administration to study their 'cumulative effects' and to weaken liability protections offered to vaccine makers," said The New York Times. Health experts are "adamantly opposed to trimming the list of recommended immunizations, warning that such changes would trigger outbreaks of deadly infectious diseases."
Both Means and her brother, Calley Means, are influential in the right-wing health sphere. They have made appearances with "some of Trump's biggest supporters, winning praise from conservative pundit Tucker Carlson and podcaster Joe Rogan," said The Associated Press.
The siblings "often rail against the influence of the pharmaceutical and food industries," said NPR. But Means goes further with assertions about processed food, "linking changes in diet and lifestyle to a raft of conditions including infertility, Alzheimer's, depression and erectile dysfunction," said the AP. Now, it's up to the U.S. Senate to decide Means' fate, as the surgeon general position must undergo a confirmation hearing. |