President Donald Trump is suggesting Dr. Casey Means, a doctor who is now a wellness expert with close links to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to be his choice for surgeon general, after he took back his first choice for this important health job.

In a social media announcement on Wednesday, Trump stated that Means possesses flawless ‘MAHA’ credentials, a reference to the slogan “Make America Healthy Again,” and affirmed her commitment to eliminating chronic illnesses and enhancing the health and welfare of the American population.

"Her academic achievements, along with her life's work, are truly remarkable," Trump said. "Dr. Casey Means could be one of the best Surgeon Generals in the history of the United States."

This action by Trump led to the withdrawal of Janette Nesheiwat, a former Fox News medical contributor, from consideration for the position, making her at least the second of Trump's health-related nominations to be pulled from Senate review. Nesheiwat was scheduled to attend her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday.

Means and her brother, former lobbyist Calley Means, were important advisers for Kennedy's unlikely 2024 presidential campaign and helped arrange his support for Trump last summer. The two appeared with some of Trump's biggest supporters, getting praise from conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and podcaster Joe Rogan. Calley Means is now a White House adviser who is often on television to talk about limiting SNAP benefits, taking fluoride out of drinking water, and other things the MAHA group wants.

Casey Means, lacking governmental experience and having withdrawn from her surgical residency due to disillusionment with conventional medicine, established Levels, a health technology company enabling users to monitor blood sugar and related metrics. Furthermore, she derives income from endorsing dietary supplements, topical creams, herbal teas, and other goods promoted via her social media platforms.

In interviews and articles, Means and her brother say that many things are responsible for the country's health problems. They mention dishonest food companies that have made Americans addicted to unhealthy food, which means people then need daily medicine from drug companies to control conditions like obesity, diabetes, and other long-term illnesses.

Most health experts agree that the typical American diet, which has a lot of processed foods, helps cause obesity and related health problems. But Means takes this idea further, suggesting that changes in diet and lifestyle are connected to many conditions, like infertility, Alzheimer's, depression, and erectile dysfunction.

“Nearly all chronic health conditions treated by Western medicine stem from the way we live our lives, which puts our cells under considerable stress,” Means stated in a book she co-authored with her brother in 2024.

Means has largely avoided endorsing Kennedy's contentious and discredited perspectives on vaccines. However, on her website, she has advocated for deeper scrutiny into their safety and proposed simplifying the process for patients to pursue legal action against pharmaceutical companies in cases of harm from vaccines. Since the late 1980s, federal legislation has protected these corporations from legal accountability to foster vaccine development unimpeded by the possibility of expensive personal injury litigation.

Having undergone surgical training at Stanford University, she has amassed a substantial online following through her critique of the established medical system and her advocacy for natural foods and lifestyle adjustments to combat obesity, diabetes, and other persistent health conditions.

If confirmed as surgeon general, Means would be tasked with promoting Kennedy’s extensive MAHA agenda, which advocates eliminating thousands of additives and chemicals from U.S. foods, addressing conflicts of interest at federal agencies and encouraging healthier foods in school lunches and other nutrition programs.

Nesheiwat, initially selected by Trump, serves as a medical director for a New York-based urgent care provider and has frequently appeared on Fox News, offering her medical acumen and perspectives. A fervent advocate for Trump, she routinely shares images of them together on social media platforms. Furthermore, Nesheiwat is the sister-in-law of former national security adviser Mike Waltz, who has been put forward as Trump's prospective ambassador to 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 wrote on X earlier this week that the surgeon general should not be "a nepo appointee who is in favor of the COVID vaccine, is currently involved in a medical malpractice case, and did not study at medical school in the US."

Last month, 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. Because of this, the White House withdrew Nesheiwat's nomination. This was due to worries about whether she would be confirmed, according to someone who knows about the administration's reasons but did not want to be named.

Nesheiwat said on social media Wednesday that he is excited to keep supporting President Trump and work closely with Secretary Kennedy in an important policy job to "Make America Healthy Again!" He added that his main goal is still to make all Americans healthier and improve their lives.

The Surgeon General, often regarded as the nation's chief medical authority, leads a corps of 6,000 US Public Health Service members and is empowered to issue advisories cautioning against public health hazards.

In March, the White House decided not to nominate former Florida Republican Representative Dave Weldon to be the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some important Republican senators were worried about his opinions on vaccines. He then withdrew his name after the White House told him he would not get enough support to be approved.