Trump’s former surgeon general says holding a medical license is essential for the position. Trump nominee Casey Means doesn’t have one.
Trump selects influencer Doctor Casey Means as Surgeon General
US President Donald Trump has selected health entrepreneur and wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means as the US Surgeon General.
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- Means is not a practicing physician and does not have an active medical license.
- Adams pointed to the surgeon general’s legal obligation to serve as vice admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
WASHINGTON ― Dr. Jerome Adams, the former U.S. surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first term, called into question the qualifications of Trump’s new nominee for the post, Casey Means, as he argued the surgeon general must hold a medical license to carry out the job’s duties.
Means is not a practicing physician and does not have an active medical license.
Without mentioning Means by name, Adams outlined his position in a May 22 post on X. Adams acknowledged that no explicit federal law mandates the surgeon general be a licensed physician. But he pointed to the surgeon general’s legal obligation to serve as vice admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a uniformed service of health professionals for the federal government.
To be commissioned as an officer in the PHSCC, a physician must hold a current valid medical medical license in addition to completing one year of a medical residency or another accredited postgraduate medical program.
Adams said the PHSCC qualifications are “implicitly (and legally) essential” to serve as surgeon general.
Since Trump nominated Means ‒ a 37-year-old Stanford University-educated wellness influencer ‒ as surgeon general on May 7, she has drawn scrutiny for her lack of medical license. Means’ Oregon medical license expired in 2019 and was moved to inactive in January 2024.
Means also dropped out of a five-year medical residency program as an otolaryngologist at Oregon Health & Science University months before completing it. Yet she appears to still satisfy the PHSCC’s requirement that physicians have one year of postgraduation education.
“The Surgeon General’s position as a trusted public health authority and physician makes full training and licensure a critical expectation in addition to an implicit legal requirement,” Adams wrote.
He compared the credentials to an Army general meeting “the minimum qualifications to serve in the military” before being promoted to lead other troops held to the same standards.
“This is in no way a personal criticism of any candidate, but a clarification for the sake of the integrity of the PHSCC that I was blessed and honored to lead,” he added. “Failure to maintain these requirements not only compromises the mission and credibility of the service, but opens the PHS and HHS to lawsuits from others denied a commission or promotion, or terminated due to failure to meet these legal standards.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump tapped Means after withdrawing his first pick for the role, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox News medical contributor.
Means, a close ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is an advocate for metabolic health and preventing chronic disease, who has a large social media following. Trump has lauded Means for having “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials,” referring to Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement.
But Means has attracted scrutiny from health professionals over her background and the ire from some on the far-right including activist Laura Loomer, an influential voice for Trump. Loomer has criticized Means’ lack of medical license and accused her of having a “history being a Marxist tree hugger.”
Adams, an anesthesiologist and former state health commissioner of Indiana, served as Trump’s only surgeon general during his first term, from 2017 to 2021. After leaving the White House, Adams joined Purdue University as executive director of the Center for Community Health Enhancement and Learning.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.