Trump will choose Dr. Casey, a close ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy JR, as the candidate for the Key Health Position.
After withdrawing his previous candidate, US President Donald Trump selected Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer with close ties to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as the candidate for the surgeon general.
In a social media post Wednesday, Trump said it means working closely with his health and welfare secretary, RFK JR.
“Her academic achievements, along with her work in life, are absolutely outstanding,” Post said. “Dr. Casey could be one of the greatest surgeon generals in American history.”
A adviser to RFK JR’s 2024 presidential election, Messenger is now a White House advisor and frequently appears on television and podcasts defending administration moves related to health and nutrition policies.
She says she has no government experience and dropped out of her surgical residency program and was disillusioned with traditional medicine.
She founded a company named Level that helps users track blood pressure and other health metrics. She also makes money by sponsoring a variety of dietary supplements and other products that say social media accounts have health benefits.
Few health experts dispute that an American diet full of processed foods contributes to obesity and related issues. However, the measures go further, linking diet and lifestyle changes to many conditions, such as infertility, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and erectile dysfunction.
Both practices, such as RFK JR, say, that both scientists and health officials have successfully implemented public health measures, have attacked measures such as forced vaccinations and fluoride use in drinking water.
Such measures and attacks on traditional sources of scientific authority demonstrated a limited but vibrant appeal among groups of core supporters during the 2024 campaign, reinforcing mistrust of medical expertise and disillusionment with the US medical and food production industry.
Critics say appeals from people like Trump and his allies have used legitimate sources of concern, leaving them to deal with little of their root causes, while simultaneously rewinding environmental and health protections.
The announcement comes after Trump retracted the first pick of Key Health Post, a Fox News health contributor named Janette Nesheiwat, who was scheduled for a confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday.
Nesheiwat had fired from the administration’s far-right allies over her support for the Covid-19 vaccine and claims that she may have misrepresented academic and medical school history.