Meet the L.A. holistic doctor and wellness influencer who is Trump's choice for surgeon general

President Trump’s prime of Dr. Casey Means, a Los Angeles holistic medicine doc and wellness influencer, arsenic his nominee for surgeon wide appears to people different effort to defy constitution medicine and longstanding national policy.

Trump portrayed Means — a 37-year-old Stanford aesculapian schoolhouse postgraduate and writer who describes herself connected LinkedIn arsenic a “former surgeon turned metabolic wellness evangelist” — successful his announcement arsenic afloat successful sync with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ngo to “Make America Healthy Again.”

“Casey has impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials, and volition enactment intimately with our fantastic Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to guarantee a palmy implementation of our Agenda successful bid to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and guarantee Great Health, successful the future, for ALL Americans,” Trump said successful a connection connected Truth Social.

But immoderate who cognize Means question whether she is wholly aligned with Kennedy.

Robert Lustig, prof emeritus of pediatrics successful the part of endocrinology astatine UC San Francisco, who is simply a person of Means, told The Times helium was shocked and surprised.

“What’s astonishing to maine is that she wanted the job, due to the fact that she had difficulties adopting RFK’s afloat portfolio,” Lustig said, citing Kennedy’s arguable pronouncements connected vaccines and fluoride successful nationalist h2o supplies. “She didn’t privation to beryllium portion of the administration, successful portion due to the fact that she couldn’t accede to those views. So what has changed is not clear.”

Means did not respond to requests for comment. Still, she celebrated successful February erstwhile Kennedy was sworn in, saying connected an X station that “his imaginativeness of the aboriginal aligns with what I privation for my family, aboriginal children, and the world.”

Over the past year, she has raised nationalist concerns astir immoderate vaccines. In August, she spoke retired connected X against CDC guidelines that each infants should person a dose of hepatitis B vaccine astatine birth.

“The thought of giving a newborn the hepatitis B vaccine (followed by 2 further doses) if the babe is calved to parents *without hepatitis B* is implicit insanity and should marque each American intermission and question the healthcare system’s mandates,” she said.

“I person said innumerable times publically I deliberation vaccine mandates are criminal,” she said connected X successful November.

But erstwhile Lustig spoke to Means 4 weeks ago, helium told The Times, Means had near her location successful Pacific Palisades, disquieted astir toxic aerial and h2o aft the L.A.-area wildfires, and had moved to Hawaii. He said she wanted to commencement a household and did not explicit involvement successful moving with Kennedy astatine the time.

“I cognize that her views are not his — that’s wherefore she didn’t judge it earlier,” Lustig said. “If you’re an employee, you person to instrumentality the full portfolio. You don’t get to take parts of it, and she was uncomfortable.”

The president announced Means arsenic his prime a time earlier his archetypal prime for the position, New York household doc and Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat, was scheduled to person a proceeding with senators Thursday.

Trump has yet to explicate wherefore Nesheiwat was replaced arsenic his nominee, but helium said she would enactment astatine the Department of Health and Human Services successful “another capacity.”

The U.S. surgeon wide is known arsenic “the nation’s doctor.” According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the relation is to supply Americans with “the champion proposal connected however to amended their health, by issuing advisories, reports and calls to enactment to connection the champion disposable technological accusation connected important issues.”

Lustig said helium had nary uncertainty Means — whom helium got to cognize by advising Levels Health, a integer metabolic wellness institution she co-founded — would bring a antithetic position to the U.S. government.

“Here’s the problem: We person an epidemic of chronic illness and determination are nary medicines that hole immoderate of these diseases,” Lustig said. “They’re not fixable by drugs. They’re fixable by food. And the crushed is due to the fact that each of these diseases are mitochondrial diseases, and we don’t person drugs that get to the mitochondria.

“We person to alteration the nutrient supply,” helium added. “There is nary option. Casey knows that. So arsenic surgeon general, she would beryllium capable to marque that case.”

In that sense, Lustig agreed with Trump, who said, “Dr. Casey Means has the imaginable to beryllium 1 of the finest Surgeon Generals successful United States History.”

“I deliberation she’s a terrific person,” Lustig said. “She volition bring a precise antithetic mindset to the office.”

But Lustig said helium believed Kennedy was level retired incorrect connected vaccines.

“I cognize wherefore he’s incorrect connected vaccines,” helium said. “I recognize wherever his encephalon is, due to the fact that I got a fractional hr with him connected the phone, 1 connected one. But I cannot change my integrity to lucifer that — and I thought that Casey couldn’t either.”

Means is an unorthodox prime for a president famed for his fare of Big Macs and Diet Cokes.

Her website features pictures of broccoli and almonds. Her Instagram leafage shows agleam bowls of tofu scrambles with heirloom tomatoes, avocado and beet sauerkraut.

Her newsletter recounts how, astatine the property of 35, aft she moved to L.A., she embraced the “woo woo (aka, the mystery),” acceptable up a meditation shrine successful her location and sought narration proposal from trees.

Means was raised successful Washington, D.C., the girl of mildly religious, Republican parents. Her Californian-born father, Grady Means, a retired American concern enforcement and authorities official, served successful the White House arsenic adjunct to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, led the Food and Nutrition Task Force to betterment the nutrient stamp programme and provided oversight to the National Health Insurance Experiment.

After graduating from Stanford Medical School, Means was 4½ years into a five-year residency to beryllium a caput and cervix surgeon astatine Oregon Health & Science University erstwhile she dropped out, disillusioned with the healthcare system.

“During my grooming arsenic a surgeon, I saw however breached and exploitative the healthcare strategy is and near to absorption connected however to support radical retired of the operating room,” she says connected her website.

“The crushed she discontinue was due to the fact that she saw that the aforesaid patients were coming backmost with the aforesaid problems, and her mentors, the module astatine Stanford, erstwhile she would ask, ‘Why is this happening?’ would say, ‘Shut up and operate,’” Lustig said.

“She had a situation of assurance that she was really not helping the problem, oregon was really portion of the strategy that was really making the problems.”

In 2019, Means co-founded Levels Health, which works to “empower individuals to radically optimize their wellness and wellbeing by providing real-time continuous glucose biofeedback.”

Two years later, her interruption with constitution medicine became much aggravated — and much idiosyncratic — erstwhile her parent was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

“What enactment her implicit the borderline was erstwhile her parent passed distant of pancreatic cancer, and it was missed,” Lustig said. “She had each the symptoms and signs of metabolic syndrome successful her and nary of her doctors addressed immoderate of them.”

Means served arsenic Levels Health’s main aesculapian serviceman until past year, erstwhile she and her brother, Calley, published a 400-page fare and self-help publication titled “Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health.”

In August, she catapulted to mainstream fame — peculiarly connected the close — erstwhile Tucker Carlson featured her and her member connected his podcast for a amusement titled “How Big Pharma Keeps You Sick, and the Dark Truth About Ozempic and the Pill.”

“The strategy is rigged against the American diligent to make diseases and past nett disconnected of them,” Means told Carlson.

Over the past fewer months, Means and her brother, who present serves arsenic a White House wellness advisor, made nationalist appearances astatine “Make America Healthy Again” events.

In September, she addressed a U.S. Senate roundtable connected chronic illness listing each the things she didn’t larn successful aesculapian school: “For each further serving of ultra-processed nutrient we eat,” she said, “early mortality increases by 18%.”

Critics were speedy to instrumentality to X to mock her statistics.

“I’ve easy had 1000 bags of chips successful my life,” said Brad Stulberg, adjunct objective adjunct prof of wellness absorption and argumentation astatine the University of Michigan’s School of Health. “If this is true, it means my mortality hazard has accrued by 18,000 percent. That seems unlikely.”