Trump names radiologist as new surgeon general

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. president Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he was nominating Dr Nicole B Saphier (pictured) as his pick for surgeon general.

Saphier is a radiologist and Fox News medical contributor and is replacing previous nominee Casey Means, a wellness influencer and ally of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and his Make America Great Again Movement.

Means faced tough questions at a Senate confirmation hearing in February over her controversial stance on vaccines, birth control and pesticides, the Daily Mail reported.

Trump wrote on Truth Social: ‘Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments.

‘She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans. Dr. Nicole Saphier will do great things for our Country, and help, “MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN.”

‘Congratulations Nicole, our Country has long been waiting for you!’

A biography of her on Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s website also lists the physician as the director of breast imaging at the institute’s imaging center in Monmouth, New Jersey.

The surgeon general, known as ‘the nation’s doctor, serves as the country’s leading figure on public health.

The position oversees the US Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, a group of officers who are public health professionals.

Saphier went to medical school at the Ross University School of Medicine and completed her residency training at Maricopa Integrated Health Systems, with a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic.

She is board-certified in diagnostic radiology and lists her specialties as breast imaging, CT scans and ultrasounds.

Saphier was among the public figures who falsely claimed in 2022 that the CDC was seeking to mandate that students receive COVID-19 vaccines despite the agency’s inability to do so.

That decision is left up to states and individual jurisdictions.

Saphier first tweeted the claim, which was then picked up and amplified by news networks and social media users.

The physician has written several books, including the 2020 one titled Make America Healthy Again, which went on to become RFK Jr’s motto.

The book discussed preventing chronic disease by addressing diet and exercise.

Her 2021 book Panic Attack criticized COVID-era restrictions and school closures.

Her latest book, 2024’s Love, Mom: Inspiring Stories Celebrating Motherhood, is a collection of first-person stories.

Saphier is Trump’s third pick for the top health spot.

The president first nominated Janette Nesheiwat last year. The White House withdrew her nomination and put forward Means in her place.

However, Means, a popular online wellness personality, faced scrutiny in her hearing when lawmakers questioned her views on vaccines and her medical credentials.

Trump had written earlier on Thursday on Truth Social: ‘Casey will continue to fight for MAHA on the many important Health issues facing our Country, such as the rising childhood disease epidemic, increased autism rates, poor nutrition, over-medicalization, and researching the root causes of infertility, and many other difficult medical problems.’

Means had echoed many of RFK Jr’s more controversial stances, including that autism may be caused by childhood vaccines, a view she shared on a Joe Rogan podcast episode last year.

And doctors had previously told Daily Mail that Means was ‘grossly underqualified’ – as she would have been one of only a handful of surgeons general to not have an active medical license and would have been the only one to have not finished her full medical training.