Trump picks Nicole Saphier for surgeon general after withdrawing Casey Means’ nomination
President Trump has accepted the nomination of Dr. Casey Means, his pick for surgeon general, whose confirmation was stalled on Capitol Hill amid opposition, including from some Republicans, in part because of her views on vaccines.
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Mr. Trump announced that he was Dr. Nicole B. Saphier, a radiologist and chief of breast imaging at MSK Monmouth, a branch of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, was nominated.
He described Dr. Saphier as “a STAR doctor who has spent her career helping women with breast cancer” and “an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR who makes complicated health issues easier to understand for all Americans.”
In an earlier post on Thursday, Trump attacked Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican and chairman of the Senate Health Committee, saying that Mr. Cassidy had “standing in the way of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nominee, Casey Means, for the important position of U.S. surgeon general.” (Mr. Kennedy, who is secretary of health, does not make nominations; the president does.)
Dr. Means, a Stanford-trained “functional medicine” doctor and wellness influencer, did not make vaccinations a central part of her identity as a doctor or candidate. She is interested in the effects of diet on health and the damage to health caused by chemical and other environmental agents and was a hero of Mr. Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement.
But she was affected by the furor over Mr. Kennedy’s controversial vaccination agenda. When she testified in her confirmation hearings, she carefully crafted her language when asked about the vaccine. She said that “vaccines save lives” but stopped short of recommending vaccinations against measles and flu, instead saying that decisions about vaccinations should be made jointly by parents and pediatricians.
The withdrawal of her nomination is likely to be a deep disappointment for the MAHA movement, whose leaders recently met with the president and his advisers and told them that Dr. Means is important. Dr. Means was present.
In an interview, Dr. Means that she will continue to use her voice to advocate for the issues that matter to her. She also praised Mr. Trump for doing so angered many MAHA influencers over a recent regulation aimed at increasing production of the weedkiller glyphosate, which some scientists have linked to cancer.
“There’s a really positive cultural movement going on right now where people are asking the government to help them get well and fight back against corporate interests that are making us sick, and the government has said, yes, we will help you,” Dr. Means.
“I firmly believe that the Trump administration is trying to figure out how to move things forward,” she added. “Yes, there are some setbacks, but there are also some great successes, and the way the culture has evolved over the past year is monumental.”
Mr. Cassidy had no comment on Dr. Means submitted. But even if he had supported her, two other key Republicans on the health panel — Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — would have refused to vote for her, causing her nomination to stall in committee.
On Wednesday, two senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about Mr. Trump’s health care policies declined to say what the administration’s strategy was to protect Dr. Means to get confirmed, or whether Mr. Trump was relying on senators to support her.
Mr. Trump is angry with Mr. Cassidy, who voted to convict the president of “incitement of insurrection” in his 2021 impeachment trial and supported Mr. Cassidy’s opponent in next month’s Louisiana primary.
Dr. Means is the sister of Calley Means, a top adviser to Mr. Kennedy. In a lengthy post on X, Mr. Means also attacked Mr. Cassidy. “I am so proud of Casey and the way she conducted herself throughout this process,” he wrote. “I am also proud to work for the Trump Administrator who spread the disruptive MAHA message and drove victories against the dark forces embodied by Bill Cassidy. At every step, Casey’s message of hope and empowerment was thwarted by Bill Cassidy.”
Dr. Saphier is Trump’s third nominee for surgeon general. His first was Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a former Fox News contributor. But her nomination was withdrawn in May 2025 when Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer close to the president, opposed her. Ms. Loomer also opposed Dr.’s nomination. Means, however, said in an interview several months ago that she had given up that fight because it seemed at the time that Dr. Means to be confirmed.
