President Donald Trump is reportedly thinking about Dr. Casey Means for the job of surgeon general. She is a doctor who became a wellness influencer and is closely connected to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is the Health and Human Services Secretary. This comes after Trump took back his first choice for this important health job.

In a social media statement on Wednesday, Trump commented that Means possesses “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials”—an abbreviation for the slogan “Make America Healthy Again”—and that she is committed to eliminating chronic illness and enhancing the health and welfare of the American population.

“Her academic achievements, in addition to her life’s work, are truly exceptional,” Trump remarked. “Dr. Casey Means has the potential to become one of the preeminent Surgeon Generals in United States History.”

Through this action, Trump rescinded the nomination of former Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, making her at least the second health-related appointee of Trump's to be withdrawn from Senate review. Nesheiwat was scheduled to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday regarding her confirmation.

Means and her brother, Calley Means, who used to be a lobbyist, were important advisers in Kennedy's unlikely try for president in 2024. They helped him support Trump last summer. They showed up with some of Trump's biggest fans and got good feedback from conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and podcaster Joe Rogan. Calley Means is now an adviser at the White House and is often on TV. He talks about limiting SNAP benefits, taking fluoride out of drinking water, and other things on the MAHA plan.

Casey Means, lacking governmental experience and having withdrawn from her surgical residency, cited disillusionment with conventional medicine as her reason. She subsequently established Levels, a health technology firm enabling users to monitor blood sugar and various other metrics. Furthermore, she generates income through the endorsement of dietary supplements, topical creams, teas, and an array of other products across her social media platforms.

In interviews and articles, Means and her brother say that many things cause the nation's health problems. These include dishonest food companies that have made Americans addicted to unhealthy food. Because of this, Americans need daily medicine from drug companies to control problems like obesity, diabetes, and other long-term illnesses.

While many health professionals agree that the prevalent American diet, heavily reliant on processed items, fuels obesity and associated issues, Means expands this perspective by connecting dietary and lifestyle shifts to a wide array of conditions such as infertility, Alzheimer's, depression, and erectile dysfunction.

"The majority of chronic health conditions treated by conventional Western medicine stem from our cells being overwhelmed by the way we have adapted to live," Means asserted in a 2024 book she co-authored with her brother.

Means has generally distanced herself from Kennedy's contentious and discredited perspectives on vaccines, though her website calls for increased scrutiny into vaccine safety and advocates simplifying the process for patients to seek legal redress from pharmaceutical companies in cases of vaccine-related harm.

She trained to be a surgeon at Stanford University, but she has gained many followers online by criticizing the medical system and supporting natural foods and changes in lifestyle to improve obesity, diabetes, and other long-term illnesses.

If confirmed as surgeon general, Means would be responsible for furthering Kennedy’s extensive MAHA agenda, which advocates for the removal of numerous additives and chemicals from U.S. foods, eliminating conflicts of interest at federal agencies, and encouraging healthier food options in school lunches and other nutrition schemes.

Nesheiwat, initially chosen by Trump, serves as a medical director for a New York-based urgent care provider and has frequently featured on Fox News, offering medical advice and perspectives; she is a fervent supporter of Trump and publicly shares images of them together on social media. Her familial ties extend to former national security adviser Mike Waltz, her brother-in-law, who is a nominee for Trump’s ambassadorial role at the United Nations.

However, she had recently been criticized by Laura Loomer, a far-right supporter of Trump who helped remove several people from the president's National Security Council. Loomer said on X earlier this week that it is not acceptable to have a surgeon general who supports the COVID vaccine, got the job because of family connections, is involved in a medical malpractice case, and did not go to medical school in the US.

Last month, independent freelance journalist Anthony Clark reported that Nesheiwat got her medical degree from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Maarten. This was different from her claim that she had a degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. The White House later withdrew Nesheiwat's nomination because there were doubts about whether it would be confirmed. This is according to someone who knows about the situation and spoke anonymously to explain why the administration made this decision.

Nesheiwat wrote on social media Wednesday, saying, "I am excited to keep supporting President Trump and work closely with Secretary Kennedy in an important policy job to make America healthy again! My main goal is still to make the health and lives of all Americans better, and that goal has not changed."

The nation's chief medical officer, the surgeon general, supervises 6,000 personnel within the U.S. Public Health Service Corps and is authorised to issue advisories highlighting potential public health hazards.

In March, the White House stopped considering former Florida Republican Representative Dave Weldon to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This was because some important Republican senators were worried about his doubts about vaccines. He then withdrew after the White House told him he did not have enough support to be approved.