‘Wellness influencer’ Casey Means headed to confirmation hearing
The US Senate is holding confirmation hearings today for wellness influencer Casey Means, the Trump administration’s pick for Surgeon General.
Snow falls on the US Capitol in Washington, DC on February 23, 2026
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Wellness influencer Casey Means, who left medical residency to pursue alternative medicine, to appear before the US Senate today confirmation hearing On his nomination for US Surgeon General. Her original hearing, which was scheduled for October 30, 2025, was delayed due to the birth of her first child.
Last May, President Donald Trump nominated Means for the job ofcountry doctorMeans, age 38, was nominated after the Trump administration withdrew the Fox News contributor’s initial nomination. Janet Neshiwat for the job after reports he made misleading claims His medical training and military service.
“(Means’s) academic achievements, combined with his life’s work, are absolutely outstanding,” Trump said His nomination was announced in a social media post.
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means a popular wellness influencer Department of Health and Human Services head Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., he has argued that many diseases, such as such as diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’sIt stems from poor diet, lack of sleep and lack of exercise – all of which, she said, ultimately affect cellular function.Mitochondrial Dysfunction“Theory of Disease.
He is expected to face financial related questions conflicts of interest On relationships with selling companies nutritional supplement and his role in “functional medicine“The company he co-founded, Levels, markets glucose monitors for healthy people. (The American Academy of Family Physicians temporarily stopped giving continuing medical education credits in functional medicine in 2014, finding some of its treatments “expiring.”)harmful and dangerous” Courses that teach physicians to perform specific techniques are still prohibited.) Means said in a government filing last September that she would resign her advisory position at Levels if she was confirmed as surgeon general.
The Senate is also expected to question Means about his views on vaccines. Republican senator and physician bill cassidy Louisiana has increasingly expressed concern about cutback moves by HHS childhood vaccine recommendations. Means, meanwhile, has echoed Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism recent statement.
Means, educated as a physician at Stanford University School of Medicine, resigned from his medical residency training as an ear, nose, and throat surgeon in 2018 to co-found Levels. Means’ brother Kelly Means, with whom she co-wrote the best-selling nutrition advice book Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Unlimited Healthrecently stepped down As a White House advisor to Kennedy. His tenure was marked by Conflict of interest concerns. Casey Means has criticized Food and pharmaceutical industry “To minimize the role of healthy eating in preventing disease, a standard argument of the Trump administration”make america healthy again” Agitation.
bloomberg It was reported last October that in Casey Means’ testimony during the hearing, she planned to say, “My professional history has prepared me to be an innovative, integrative and practical leader focused on reversing chronic disease.”
Means has been criticized by former Trump administration Surgeon General Jerome Adams and Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. He does not have an active medical license or board certification, and he has argued that he Oversells health as a cure for disease. his support unpasteurized raw milk Despite this, its proven health harms and its focus on mitochondrial diseases resonate Similar statements from Kennedy also.
“Casey Means is more of an influencer than a medical practitioner,” says Maria Wellman of Michigan State University. affective reliability studies In the wellness industry. She says Means is a “prime example” of an online entrepreneur who uses a medical degree to establish credibility while speaking outside the boundaries of her training.
Wellman says, “I worry that Means will not work to make Americans healthier and will instead further her goals of becoming more popular online and making more money – exactly the same thing she often says she is fighting against.”
The confirmation hearing will begin at 10 a.m. EST.
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