President Trump on Wednesday picked Casey Means, a distinguished affect within the “Make America Healthy Again” motion, to be his surgeon normal, pulling the nomination of Janette Nesheiwat, a doctor and former Fox Information contributor.

Trump lauded Means, saying in a Fact Social put up that her tutorial achievements and life’s work would set her as much as be one of many “finest Surgeon Generals in United States History.”

Means graduated from Stanford Medical Faculty however says she left the surgeon observe to give attention to “tackling the root cause of why Americans are sick.”

She rose to prominence on the fitting in recent times by means of appearances on Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan’s podcasts, alongside along with her brother, Calley Means, an adviser to Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Casey Means has constructed a big following on-line for writing about well being and wellness, espousing the identical overarching thought as Kennedy: that unhealthy life-style decisions and environmental toxins are responsible for weight problems, most cancers and different well being crises dealing with the U.S.

Like lots of Kennedy’s allies, she has additionally been skeptical of vaccines, questioning their “cumulative effects” on Individuals.

She co-founded a well being app that may hook up with glucose displays, and she or he promotes numerous well being dietary supplements by means of her on-line presence.

Right here’s what you could learn about Means.

MAHA connections

Means is a distinguished voice within the Make America Wholesome Once more (MAHA) motion that Kennedy is making an attempt to graft onto U.S. well being care companies.

She wrote in a February put up on X that the brand new HHS secretary “has a vision for the future that aligns with what I want for my family, future children, and the world. RFK Jr has a track record of DECADES of environmental and health advocacy and he is about to run a big portion of the US economy.”

Her brother, Calley Means, is an influential determine inside HHS, employed as a particular authorities worker, and is credited with serving to to facilitate the Kennedy-Trump political partnership in the course of the 2024 marketing campaign.

The siblings co-authored the 2024 guide “Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health.”

“Almost every chronic health symptom that Western medicine addresses is the result of our cells being beleaguered by how we’ve come to live,” the guide says.

The episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show” that includes the Means siblings, titled “The Fact About Ozempic, the Capsule, and How Large Pharma Retains You Sick,” was probably the most shared episode on Apple podcasts final 12 months.

Nesheiwat, Trump’s preliminary surgeon normal decide, was publicly criticized by far-right influencer Laura Loomer, who claimed a “scalp” after her firing.

Loomer was additionally vital of Means. “This is honestly insane,” Loomer wrote in a single put up Thursday morning. “I do not believe for one second that Donald Trump made this decision. I refuse to believe it.”

Kennedy’s operating mate, Nicole Shanahan, additionally mentioned she was in disbelief in a put up on X Wednesday night time, claiming he had promised her the brother and sister wouldn’t work at HHS if he grew to become secretary.

“With regards to the siblings, there is something very artificial and aggressive about them, almost like they were bred and raised Manchurian assets,” she wrote.

Background and beliefs

Based on The New York Instances, Means left a path of head and neck surgical procedure for a follow in purposeful drugs, focusing on the foundations of illness.

“During my training as a surgeon, I saw how broken and exploitative the healthcare system is and left to focus on how to keep people out of the operating room,” Means mentioned in an internet biography about herself.

The Instances reported that weight problems, diabetes and infertility are among the many precedence points for Means. She has additionally endorsed uncooked milk, like Kennedy.

Means has been extremely vital of vaccine mandates, the present vaccine schedule for youngsters, and the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) broadly, suggesting felony corruption within the company.

“There is growing evidence that the total burden of the current extreme and growing vaccine schedule is causing health declines in vulnerable children. This needs to be investigated,” Means wrote in a e-newsletter across the 2024 election. 

Means can be the co-founder of Ranges, a well being know-how firm centering round monitoring well being data by means of steady glucose displays.

“Levels helps you see how food impacts your health with AI-powered food logging, habit tracking, and smarter insights,” its web site says.

She has described a “devil’s bargain” on the coronary heart of the U.S. economic system, writing in an October e-newsletter, “we have a set of food, chemical, and agriculture industries that profit trillions per year from people consuming and using as much cheap, additive, chemical-filled food and products as possible, and we have a $4.5 trillion healthcare system that profits off of the resultant diseases that emerge.”

Colin Meyn contributed.

Up to date: 1:11 p.m.