The White House is pushing for members of the Senate to confirm Casey Means, MD, as U.S. surgeon general “without further delay,” despite mixed signals from President Donald Trump, NBC News reported March 31.
According to the report, Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One March 30 that he wasn’t sure how Dr. Means was faring in the nomination process nearly a month after her Senate confirmation hearing. He told reporters that there were “a lot of great candidates” for the role.
In a March 31 statement shared with NBC, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Means’ qualifications and said that Mr. Trump was in support of her nomination.
“Dr. Casey Means has spent her entire career as an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and researcher bringing attention to America’s chronic disease epidemic and how our healthcare system is failing the American people,” Ms. Leavitt said. “The President stands by her and the Senate should move to quickly [confirm] Dr. Means as our next surgeon general without further delay.”
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana and chairman of the Senate Health, Labor and Pensions Committee declined to comment on Dr. Means’ nomination, according to the report. There is no clear timeline for a committee vote, which is required before her nomination advances to a full Senate vote.
Dr. Means has faced bipartisan opposition over her views on vaccines, birth control and pesticide use. During her confirmation hearing in February, she faced stiff questioning from Mr. Cassidy and Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democrat from Vermont, specifically regarding whether or not she believed that vaccines cause autism, a theory touted by HHS Secret Robert Kennedy, a close ally of Dr. Means.
Dr. Means has not held an active medical license since January 2024 and did not complete the residency program, according to NBC. She left a surgical residency program at Oregon Health and Science University in 2018. She told Senator Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, that she is not renewing her medical license because she has not been and will not be actively seeing patients.
President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Means for surgeon general after withdrawing his previous choice, former Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, MD, in May 2025.
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