‘Influencer’ with no medical licence is Trump’s choice to oversee US health service

Donald Trump has selected a conspiracy theorist and self-styled Make America Healthy Again “wellness influencer” who is not currently licensed to practice medicine to be the nation’s next surgeon general.

- ANDREW FEINBERG

The US president made the new pick after withdrawing his initial choice days before she was scheduled to go before the Senate for a confirmation hearing.

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Mr Trump said he was choosing Dr Casey Means, a practitioner of “functional medicine” who is a close ally of the health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, citing her “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials”.

He claimed Dr Means, who completed her initial medical education at Stanford University’s medical school but dropped out of an ear, nose and throat residency programme at the University of Oregon and currently has no active medical licence, would “work closely” with Mr Kennedy “to ensure a successful implementation of our Agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans”.

Mr Trump’s decision to nominate Dr Means came after he made the decision to withdraw his initial pick, Dr Janette Nesheiwat, marking the second time one of his top health care policy picks has faltered before being considered by the Senate.