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• Posted May 1, 2026

Trump Offers Third Candidate For Surgeon General After Pulling Dr. Casey Means' Nomination

The White House has hit the reset button on its search for the next U.S. surgeon general.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is withdrawing the nomination of Dr. Casey Means and tapping Dr. Nicole Saphier to serve as the nation’s top doctor and health educator.

The move follows weeks of debate on Capitol Hill. While Means was a favorite of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, her path to confirmation was blocked by key Republican senators. 

Much of the opposition centered on her non-committal stance regarding standard childhood immunizations, The New York Times reported.

New nominee Saphier, 44, is a familiar name in the medical community and the media. She is a radiologist and associate professor of radiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.  

Saphier has also served in various committes and roles for the American College of Radiology and has held leadership and advisory positions at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New Jersey Department of Health and Radiological Society of New Jersey. She is a best-selling author, network news contributor and host of the iHeart Radio podcast, Wellness Unmasked with Dr. Nicole Saphier.

“Dr. Saphier is a tireless advocate for women’s health who has worked to increase access to lifesaving cancer screenings, enable earlier cancer detection and ultimately save countless lives,” Dr. Dana Smetherman, chief executive officer of the American College of Radiology, said in a news release.

In a social media post, Trump praised Saphier as a “STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer” and described her as an “INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR” capable of simplifying complex health data for the public.

Saphier is the third person nominated for the role during this administration.

The withdrawal of Means’ nomination marks a significant moment for the MAHA movement, led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A Stanford-trained physician and influencer whose medical license is on "inactive" status in Oregon, Means focuses on the health impacts of processed foods and environmental toxins. 

During her confirmation hearings, she struggled to win over senators regarding her views on vaccines.

Although stating that "vaccines save lives," Means declined to issue a direct recommendation for the measles or flu shots, suggesting instead that those choices belong solely to parents and pediatricians. This prompted concern from several key Republicans, including U.S. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, effectively leaving her nomination stuck in committee.

Despite withdrawal of her nomination, Means expressed optimism about the direction of the country’s health dialogue. She noted that more Americans are demanding that the government address corporate interests that negatively impact health.

“There is a really positive cultural movement happening right now where people are asking the government to help them get healthy and help them stand up against corporate interests that are making us sick, and the government has said, yes, we’ll help you,” Means told The New York Times.

As the nomination process begins for Saphier, the focus may shift toward her vision for cancer prevention and how she plans to navigate the polarized landscape of American public health.

Details on when the new Senate confirmation process for Saphier will begin are not yet available.

More information

The U.S Department of Health and Human Services has more about current priorities and the role of surgeon general.

SOURCES: The New York Times, April 30, 2026; American College of Radiology, news release, April 30, 2026