U.S. President Donald Trump has selected his new pick for surgeon general, a physician-turned-wellness influencer who doesn’t have a current medical licence, and to say the selection is causing drama would be an understatement.
“Casey has impeccable ‘MAHA’ (Make America Healthy Again) credentials,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday of nominating Dr. Casey Means for the role, which is considered the leading authority on health matters in the U.S. and the “nation’s doctor.”
“Her academic achievements, together with her life’s work, are absolutely outstanding. Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History,” the president continued.
In nominating Means, Trump withdrew former Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat from consideration for the job, marking at least the second health-related pick from Trump to be pulled from Senate consideration. Nesheiwat had been scheduled to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Thursday for her confirmation hearing.
Means, 37, received a medical degree from Stanford University but later dropped out of a residency program, the BBC reports.
She co-founded Levels, a glucose monitoring company, and according to her website, held research positions at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and several universities.
Means has no government experience and dropped out of the surgical program after she became disillusioned with traditional medicine.
She also makes money from dietary supplements, creams, teas and other products sponsored on her social media accounts, where she has built an online following by criticizing medical establishments and promoting natural foods and lifestyle changes to reverse diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases.
On Thursday, Laura Loomer, a prominent supporter of Trump and right-wing provocateur, lashed out on the social platform X, accusing the president’s advisers of improperly vetting the new nominees and taking swipes at Means’ background.
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“This is honestly insane,” she wrote in one post Thursday morning. “I do not believe for one second that Donald Trump made this decision. I refuse to believe it.
“PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PICK FOR US SURGEON GENERAL CASEY MEANS SAID SHE PRAYS TO INANIMATE OBJECTS, COMMUNICATES WITH SPIRIT MEDIUMS, USES SHROOMS AS ‘PLANT MEDICINE’ AND TALKS TO TREES! SHE ALSO DOESN’T EVEN HAVE AN ACTIVE MEDICAL LICENSE.”
“This is so embarrassing for the Trump administration. They chose a social media influencer who sells supplements who didn’t even support Donald Trump to be the US Surgeon General,” she wrote in another post. “Who is doing the vetting?????”
Means and her brother, former lobbyist Calley Means, served as key advisers to Robert F. Kennedy’s longshot 2024 presidential bid and helped broker his endorsement of Trump last summer. The pair made appearances with some of Trump’s biggest supporters, winning praise from conservative pundit Tucker Carlson and podcaster Joe Rogan. Calley Means is currently a White House adviser who appears frequently on television to promote restrictions on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, removing fluoride from drinking water and other MAHA agenda items.
In interviews and articles, Means and her brother describe a dizzying web of influences to blame for the nation’s health problems, including corrupt food conglomerates that have hooked Americans on unhealthy diets, leaving them reliant on daily medications from the pharmaceutical industry to manage obesity, diabetes and other chronic conditions.
Calley Means defended his sister in an online post directed at Loomer on Thursday, reports The Hill, describing her as “the single best person in the world on connecting the dots behind our chronic diseases crisis — and her reason for existence is to help the President reverse these trends.”
He also highlighted her background as a “Stanford educated physician” and her efforts “to inspire others to leave the medical system and reform it.”
Loomer isn’t the only one who’s taken issue with Means as Trump’s more recent nominee.
Kennedy’s previous 2024 running mate, Nicole Shanahan, also expressed her disappointment.
“Doesn’t make any sense,” Shanahan wrote on Wednesday. “I was promised that if I supported RFK Jr. in his Senate confirmation that neither of these siblings would be working under HHS (Health and Human Services) or in an appointment (and that people much more qualified would be).
“I don’t know if RFK very clearly lied to me, or what is going on…. With regards to the siblings, there is something very artificial and aggressive about them.”
The surgeon general oversees 6,000 U.S. Public Health Service Corps members and can issue advisories that warn of public health threats.
— With files from The Associated Press
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