Dr. Casey Means, 38, had been set to face a grilling from lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).
“Everyone’s happy for Dr. Means and her family,” Department of Health and Human Services press secretary Emily Hilliard told The Post. “This is one of the few times in life it’s easy to ask to move a Senate hearing.”
Means was nominated May 7, the same day Trump pulled the nomination of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a former Fox News contributor, and ex-medical director of CityMD.
Dr. Casey Means, Trump’s pick for surgeon general, the country’s top doctor, is the co-author for the 2024 book “Good Energy” on how “psilocybin-assisted therapy” can be used to manage stress and trauma. Instagram/drcaseyskitchenMeans has been very critical of the US medical system, and if confirmed, she will become the country’s top doctor, providing the public with important advice on pressing medical issues.
Throughout her career, Means has argued that the medical establishment hasn’t put enough focus on the root causes for people getting sick and has championed so-called “functional medicine,” which emphasizes the importance of countering the underlying causes of diseases.
She is the co-author of the best-selling book, “Good Energy,” and has been a close confidant of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In her book, Means contended that much of the chronic disease epidemic in the US stems from poor food policy, environmental toxins and sedentary lifestyles.
Critics have highlighted one chapter of the book, titled “Trust Yourself, Not Your Doctor.”
“I deeply respect doctors, but I want to be very clear on something: at every hospital in the United States, many doctors are doing the wrong things, pushing pills and interventions when an ultra-aggressive stance on diet and behavior would do far more for the patient in front of them,” she wrote.
Dr. Jerome Adams, Trump’s surgeon general in his first administration, has raised concerns over the fact that Means is not a practicing physician.
Means — pictured with Megan Kelly at Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing in January — has been very critical of the US medical system. APOther detractors have raised similar gripes about her lack of credentials.
“[She’s] someone who never completed residency and doesn’t have an active medical license (i.e. she wouldn’t even qualify as the ‘top doc’ on ‘The Pitt,’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ or ‘Scrubs’),” Adams before news broke that the hearing was postponed.
Right-wing activist Laura Loomer has also raised concerns about the selection of Means for the surgeon general role, given some of the medical practices she has touted, such as “full moon ceremonies” and “plant medicine experiences.”
Means had been nominated five months ago after Trump pulled Janette Nesheiwat. AP“The attacks that Casey is unqualified because she left the medical system completely miss the point of what we are trying to accomplish with MAHA,” RFK Jr. argued in a May X post. “Casey is the perfect choice for Surgeon General precisely because she left the traditional medical system–not in spite of it.”
A new confirmation hearing date for Means has not yet been set.
