US President Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer and critic of traditional medicine, as the next US Surgeon General. The move signals a significant shift in Trump’s public health agenda, aligning it more closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) platform. Trump’s announcement comes after the withdrawal of his original nominee, Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox News medical contributor and New York-based urgent care director. Nesheiwat’s nomination faced criticism over her medical background and COVID vaccine stance.
Who is Casey Means?
Casey Means trained as a surgeon at Stanford University but left her residency, stating disillusionment with Western medicine’s symptom-based approach. Instead, she turned to preventative health, co-founding the tech startup Levels, which helps users monitor blood sugar and other health metrics. Means has since built a career as a wellness entrepreneur, promoting natural health solutions and lifestyle interventions. She also earns income through sponsored posts, supplements, teas, and creams on social media.
Close ties with RFK Jr. and the MAHA agenda
Means and her brother, Calley Means — a former lobbyist and current White House adviser—were key players in RFK Jr.’s independent 2024 presidential campaign. The duo helped broker Kennedy’s eventual endorsement of Trump and have appeared alongside conservative influencers like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan. The MAHA agenda, now increasingly embraced by Trump’s campaign, includes controversial proposals such as banning food additives, eliminating fluoride from drinking water, and reworking school nutrition programs.
Means believes that the rise in chronic conditions—such as obesity, diabetes, infertility, and even depression—stems from ultra-processed foods and what she sees as a corrupt alliance between food corporations and the pharmaceutical industry. In a 2024 book co-written with her brother, she wrote: “Almost every chronic health symptom that Western medicine addresses is the result of our cells being beleaguered by how we’ve come to live.
Controversial stance over vaccine use
While Means has avoided Kennedy’s most extreme views on vaccines, she has echoed calls for further investigation into vaccine safety. On her website, she supports rolling back legal protections for vaccine manufacturers—protections put in place in the 1980s to encourage vaccine development without fear of lawsuits .Janette Nesheiwat, Trump’s original nominee, faced scrutiny after reports emerged that she had listed a U.S. medical school as her alma mater, despite earning her degree from the American University of the Caribbean in St. Maarten. Far-right activist Laura Loomer publicly criticised Nesheiwat, accusing her of being “pro-COVID vaccine” and connected to political elites.
What the Surgeon General does
The U.S. Surgeon General serves as the country’s top public health spokesperson and oversees the 6,000-member U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. The role involves issuing health advisories, guiding national health priorities, and serving as a symbolic “nation’s doctor.”If confirmed, Means would become one of the most unconventional and politically divisive figures to ever hold the post, bringing alternative health into the spotlight at a time of deep polarisation around science and wellness.