The adviser helping shape Kennedy's health policies

Calley Means says he knows firsthand that America’s food and pharmaceutical industries are corrupt. As a former lobbyist, he argues, he once helped corrupt them.

- DANI BLUM

Mr Means, 39, has emerged as a key figure in the Make America Healthy Again movement. He is a top adviser to Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and coordinated a presidential commission report published on Thursday on the causes of chronic disease in children.

That report touched on some of the movement's top priorities, including ultraprocessed foods, chemical exposures, excessive use of prescription drugs and corporate influences over health.

Corporate influence has long been a talking point for Mr Means, who has rapidly risen from an obscure health care entrepreneur to an influential figure shaping the White House’s health priorities. (It was Mr Means who suggested to Mr Kennedy that he consider joining forces with President Donald Trump over the summer.)

He is a fixture on Fox News and on popular podcasts, where he often discusses rising rates of issues such as infertility, depression, diabetes and obesity.

He is the co-founder of Truemed, a startup that helps people funnel their flexible savings account dollars toward products like weights, saunas and supplements. Mr Means has said making it easier for people to purchase these types of products could help prevent disease.