President Trump will nominate Dr. Casey Means, an ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and prominent advocate for his agenda, to serve as the U.S. surgeon general, the president announced Wednesday.
Means replaces Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, whose nomination was withdrawn by the White House a day before she was scheduled to appear at a Senate confirmation hearing.
Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post that Means “has impeccable “MAHA” credentials” — referring to the acronym for “Make America Healthy Again,” a slogan used by Kennedy.
“Her academic achievements, together with her life’s work, are absolutely outstanding,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History.”
The surgeon general oversees 6,000 members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, and plays a key role in setting the national agenda on public health. The nominee must be confirmed by the Senate.
Means was close to Kennedy during the campaign, along with her brother, Calley Means, who played a key role in orchestrating Kennedy’s endorsement of Mr. Trump, according to some of Kennedy allies who played a role in the transition.
Casey Means has written about how, after attending Stanford Medical School and training to become a surgeon, she opted to leave “traditional medicine” to devote her life to “tackling the root cause of why Americans are sick.” She co-founded Levels, a health app that can connect to glucose monitors, and built a large following as a health and wellness influencer.
Both Means siblings soared to prominence in recent years after viral interviews decrying the influence of the food and drug industry. Their views align with Kennedy’s claims that unhealthy food and lifestyle choices underpin a vast swath of Americans’ health conditions.
The two siblings authored the bestseller “Good Energy” after their mother died of pancreatic cancer, saying that she had been “simply prescribed pills and not set on a path of curiosity about how these conditions are connected and how the root cause can be reversed.”
An interview the two did with Tucker Carlson — ranked by Apple as the most-shared podcast episode of 2024 — was titled “The Truth About Ozempic, the Pill, and How Big Pharma Keeps You Sick.”
Calley Means now serves as a special government employee, advising Kennedy and backing state bills promoting his agenda.
Casey Means was initially favored as one contender for the surgeon general pick, some of Kennedy’s allies said, but was passed over for Dr. Nesheiwat. Some of Kennedy’s allies said they believed Nesheiwat’s appearances on Fox News and ties to former national security adviser Mike Waltz, who is married to Nesheiwat’s sister Julia, played a role in the president’s decision.
Nesheiwat’s nomination was withdrawn Wednesday amid concerns about how she portrayed her credentials. For example, as CBS News previously reported, she has publicly listed an M.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, but she actually got her medical degree from the American University of the Caribbean.