트럼프의 MAHA 인플루언서 후보, surgeon general가 상원에 회부되다
Source: Ars Technica
Nomination and Senate Hearing
Casey Means, President Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, will appear before the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday and is likely to face scrutiny over her qualifications for becoming the country’s top doctor.
Qualifications and Controversies
- Holds a medical degree from Stanford Medical School.
- Dropped out of her medical residency and does not have an active medical license.
- Pursues a career as a wellness influencer, embracing “functional” medicine—an ill‑defined form of alternative medicine.
- Co‑founded a company called Levels, which promotes intensive health tracking, including the use of continuous glucose monitoring for people without diabetes or prediabetes, a practice not backed by evidence.
Financial Interests
An analysis by The Washington Post found that Means earned over half a million dollars between 2024 and 2025 from deals with companies described as selling:
- “diagnostic testing,”
- “herbal remedies and wellness products,”
- “teas, supplements, and elixirs.”
Association with RFK Jr. and MAHA
Means is best known as an ally to anti‑vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a popular influencer among Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) followers.
Book and Dietary Recommendations
In 2024, Means and her brother Calley Means—also a close Kennedy ally and former Trump administration official—wrote a book often referred to as MAHA’s bible: Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health (see the Washington Post coverage here).
The book offers dietary and lifestyle advice, recommending avoidance of:
- Processed foods
- Seed oils
- Fragrances and a variety of home‑care products
- Fluoride
- Unfiltered water
- Bananas when eaten alone
- Receipt paper
- Birth‑control pills
It also includes a chapter titled “Trust Yourself, Not Your Doctor.”