President Donald Trump is tapping Dr. Casey Means, a physician-turned-wellness influencer with shut ties to Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as his nominee for surgeon common after withdrawing his preliminary decide for the influential well being submit.
Trump mentioned in a social media submit Wednesday that Means has “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials” – referring to the “ Make America Wholesome Once more ” slogan – and that she is going to work to eradicate persistent illness and enhance the well being and well-being of Individuals.
“Her tutorial achievements, collectively together with her life’s work, are completely excellent,” Trump mentioned. “Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of many best Surgeon Generals in United States Historical past.”
In doing so, Trump withdrew former Fox Information medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat from consideration for the job, marking not less than the second health-related decide from Trump to be pulled from Senate consideration. Nesheiwat had been scheduled to look earlier than the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee Thursday for her affirmation listening to.
Means and her brother, former lobbyist Calley Means, served as key advisers to Kennedy’s longshot 2024 presidential bid and helped dealer his endorsement of Trump final summer time. The pair made appearances with a few of Trump’s greatest supporters, successful reward from conservative pundit Tucker Carlson and podcaster Joe Rogan. Calley Means is presently a White Home adviser who seems often on tv to advertise restrictions on SNAP advantages, eradicating fluoride from consuming water and different MAHA agenda objects.
Casey Means has no authorities expertise and dropped out of her surgical residency program, saying she turned disillusioned with conventional drugs. She based a well being tech firm, Ranges, that helps customers monitor blood sugar and different metrics. She additionally makes cash from dietary dietary supplements, lotions, teas and different merchandise sponsored on her social media accounts.
In interviews and articles, Means and her brother describe a dizzying net of influences guilty for the nation’s well being issues, together with corrupt meals conglomerates which have hooked Individuals on unhealthy diets, leaving them reliant on day by day drugs from the pharmaceutical business to handle weight problems, diabetes and different persistent circumstances.
Few well being specialists would dispute that the American weight-reduction plan — filled with processed meals — is a contributor to weight problems and associated issues. However Means goes additional, linking adjustments in weight-reduction plan and life-style to a raft of circumstances together with infertility, Alzheimer’s, melancholy and erectile dysfunction.
“Nearly each persistent well being symptom that Western drugs addresses is the results of our cells being beleaguered by how we’ve come to reside,” Means mentioned in a 2024 guide co-written together with her brother.
Meals specialists say it’s overly simplistic to declare that each one processed meals are dangerous, because the designation covers an estimated 60% of U.S. meals, together with merchandise as numerous as granola, peanut butter and potato chips.
“They aren’t all created equal,” mentioned Gabby Headrick, a diet researcher at George Washington College’s faculty of public well being. “It’s far more difficult than simply pointing the finger at ultra-processed meals as the driving force of persistent illness in the US.”
Means has principally steered away from Kennedy’s controversial and debunked views on vaccines. However on her web site, she has referred to as for extra investigation into their security and recommends making it simpler for sufferers to sue drugmakers within the occasion of vaccine accidents. Because the late Eighties, federal regulation has shielded these corporations from authorized legal responsibility to encourage improvement of vaccines with out the specter of expensive private damage lawsuits.
She skilled as a surgeon at Stanford College however has constructed a web based following by criticizing the medical institution and selling pure meals and life-style adjustments to reverse weight problems, diabetes and different persistent illnesses.
If confirmed as surgeon common, Means can be tasked with serving to promote Kennedy’s sprawling MAHA agenda, which requires eradicating 1000’s of components and chemical compounds from U.S. meals, rooting out conflicts of curiosity at federal companies and incentivizing more healthy meals in faculty lunches and different diet applications.
Nesheiwat, Trump’s first decide, is a medical director for an pressing care firm in New York and has appeared repeatedly on Fox Information to supply medical experience and insights. She is a vocal supporter of Trump and shares pictures of them collectively on social media. Nesheiwat can also be the sister-in-law of former nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz, who has been nominated to be Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.
However she had lately come underneath criticism from Laura Loomer, a far-right ally of Trump who was instrumental in ousting a number of members of the president’s Nationwide Safety Council. Loomer posted on X earlier this week that “we will’t have a pro-COVID vaccine nepo appointee who’s presently embroiled in a medical malpractice case and who didn’t go to medical faculty within the US” because the surgeon common.
Unbiased freelance journalist Anthony Clark reported final month that Nesheiwat earned her medical diploma from the American College of the Caribbean College of Drugs in St. Maarten, regardless of saying that she has a level from the College of Arkansas College of Drugs. The White Home pulled Nesheiwat’s nomination due to doubts about her affirmation prospects, based on an individual acquainted with the matter who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate the administration’s reasoning.
“I’m trying ahead to persevering with to assist President Trump and dealing intently with Secretary Kennedy in a senior coverage function to Make America Wholesome Once more! My focus continues to be on bettering the well being and well-being of all Individuals, and that mission hasn’t modified,” Nesheiwat wrote on social media Wednesday.
The surgeon common, thought of the nation’s physician, oversees 6,000 U.S. Public Well being Service Corps members and may problem advisories that warn of public well being threats.
In March, the White Home pulled from consideration the nomination of former Florida GOP Rep. Dave Weldon to guide the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. His skepticism on vaccines had raised considerations from key Republican senators, and he withdrew after being informed by the White Home that he didn’t have sufficient assist to be confirmed.
The withdrawal was first reported by Bloomberg Information.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
