Casey Means, President Trump's nominee for surgeon general, faces a Senate Health Committee hearing Wednesday amid intense scrutiny of her qualifications. The Stanford-trained physician dropped out of surgical residency and holds no active medical license, instead building a career as a wellness influencer promoting 'functional' medicine and intensive health tracking through her company Levels.

Means has earned over half a million dollars since 2024 from deals with companies selling diagnostic testing, herbal remedies, and wellness products, according to a Washington Post analysis. She's best known as an ally to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a popular influencer among his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) followers, co-authoring the 2024 book _Good Energy_ with her brother Calley Means.

Public health experts have blasted her nomination as dangerous. Virologist Angela Rasmussen called her 'willingness to promote RFK Jr.'s disinformation and quackery' her only apparent qualification. Epidemiologist Elizabeth Jacobs warned that the surgeon general 'must be someone Americans can trust to give credible advice based on solid science and real data, not a charlatan who specializes in selling expensive, unproven tests and treatments.' The Senate's decision will determine whether the nation's top doctor position goes to someone with mainstream medical credentials or a wellness influencer.