Dr. Casey Means, President Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, told senators on Wednesday that “anti-vaccine rhetoric has never been part of my message,” as she deflected questions about birth control, pesticides, vaccines, her finances and her use of a psychedelic drug.
Testifying before the Senate Health Committee, Dr. Means, a wellness influencer, author and leader in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, said Americans are suffering from an epidemic of chronic diseases linked to ultraprocessed foods, chemical exposures and the stressed, sedentary nature of modern life.
“Nothing is more urgent than restoring wholeness for Americans, physically, mentally and societally,” Dr. Means said, adding, “Our nation is angry, exhausted and hurting from preventable diseases.”
The hearing represented a significant test for Dr. Means, who would be a highly unconventional surgeon general. She would carry the informal title of the “nation’s doctor,” yet she is not a practicing physician and is a vocal critic of the medical establishment, which she regards as too focused on sickness and not enough the root causes of chronic disease.
She has previously raised questions about whether children receive too many vaccines, but on Wednesday she repeatedly said she was “supportive of vaccination,” though she stressed that parents should consult with their pediatricians.
Dr. Means was scheduled to come before the panel in October, but her confirmation hearing was canceled when she went into labor with her first child, a boy.
On Wednesday, Dr. Means was calm and mostly unflappable. The Republican-controlled committee, which will have to vote on whether to forward her nomination to the Senate floor, seemed poised to do so, but it was unclear whether Dr. Means would win any Democratic support.
She found agreement with Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and ranking member of the committee, telling him she would “absolutely lend” her voice to support a ban on ads for junk food. But on more contentious matters, Dr. Means resisted senators’ efforts to pin her down.
She refused to say whether she would advise parents to vaccinate their children against measles, even as the disease spreads in South Carolina. She said that birth control pills should be accessible to “all women,” even as a senator pressed her on past comments that “hormonal birth control has horrifying health risks for women.”
She also showed her unorthodox side. When Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, pressed her on her past use of the hallucinogen psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, she said she was grieving her mother’s death, and looking for healing, when she took it.
“I do believe that Americans are ready to hear about spirituality when it pertains to medicine,” Dr. Means said, though she added that as surgeon general, she would not advise Americans to take the drug. Dr. Means and her brother Calley Means, a top adviser to Mr. Kennedy, rose to prominence in 2024 as the authors of “Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health.” Both have become emissaries of Mr. Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement.
Dr. Means called the administration’s MAHA strategy report released in September “a profound document” and “groundbreaking.” Her brother was the architect of it.
Through her book, her newsletter and her social media channels — she has 845,000 followers on Instagram — Dr. Means has monetized her interest in wellness. She is the co-founder of Levels, a company that offers subscribers wearable glucose monitors to track their health.
She has also received tens of thousands of dollars in income from companies whose products she has promoted, according to her financial disclosures. She has said she would divest from her company and other financial interests.
The nomination of Dr. Means initially drew criticism from the far-right activist Laura Loomer, who ridiculed Dr. Means on social media in May as a “total crackpot.” But Mr. Kennedy came to Dr. Means’s defense, and the fracas subsided. In a recent interview, Ms. Loomer made clear that she was abandoning the fight.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg is a correspondent based in Washington for The New York Times, covering Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Trump’s health agenda.
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