President Trump will nominate Dr. Casey Means to serve as U.S. surgeon general, he announced Wednesday — shortly after the White House withdrew the president’s earlier pick of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for the key public health post.
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 Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“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.”
Means’ website says she graduated from Stanford Medical School. She trained as a surgeon but dropped it to focus on functional medicine and co-founded Levels, a health app that can connect to glucose monitors. She has built a large following as a health and wellness influencer.
Casey 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 multiple Kennedy allies who played a role in the transition.
The two siblings authored the bestseller “Good Energy” after their mother died of pancreatic cancer, arguing that “metabolism is at the root of disease and the incentives that lead our current system to ignore it.”
Calley Means now serves as a special government employee, advising Kennedy. Casey Means was initially favored as a contender for the surgeon general pick, some of Kennedy’s allies said, but was initially passed over for Nesheiwat.
Some of Kennedy’s allies said they believed Nesheiwat’s appearances on Fox News and her ties to Mike Waltz — the former national security adviser, who is married to Nesheiwat’s sister Julia — played a role in that pick.
The U.S. 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.
