Trump withdraws wellness influencer and MAHA activist Casey Means as surgeon general nominee

April 30, 20264 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAmOn Thursday the president announced he is nominating Nicole Saphier, a radiologist and Fox News contributor, as the nation’s top doctorBy Adam Kovac edited by Claire CameronBrendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images Make America Health Again (MAHA) activist and wellness influencer Casey Means is out of the running to be President Donald Trump’s nominee for surgeon general. On Thursday the president announced that he is nominating radiologist and Fox News contributor Nicole Saphier for the job instead—she is Trump’s third pick to be the “nation’s doctor” since his second term in office began.The decision to pull Means from the nomination comes a little less than a year after Trump first tapped her for the role in May 2025. Means’s path to the job had become mired in the Senate amid growing concern among lawmakers, including Republican senator and physician Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, over her stances on vaccines, abortion pills and alternative medicine.A graduate of the Stanford University School of Medicine, Means dropped out of a surgical residency in 2018 and founded an alternative medicine practice. She also co-authored a book that promotes organic foods and criticizes processed foods and sugars as