President Donald Trump is nominating Dr. Nicole Saphier for surgeon general, ending the bid of his prior pick, Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer with an inactive medical license who dropped out of her residency program.
Background on Dr. Saphier
Saphier is a board-certified radiologist and the director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Likely more critically for Trump, she has also been a contributor on Fox News.
Trump’s first pick for surgeon general, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, was also a regular on Fox News. As with Means, Nesheiwat’s nomination failed to go anywhere. Trump did not acknowledge Means or Nesheiwat in his statement Thursday.
“I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Dr. Nicole B. Saphier to be the next SURGEON GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” he wrote. “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.”
If confirmed, Saphier will be expected to inform and set the tone for Americans on all matters of health, including vaccination.
Vaccine Skepticism
Like Means, who expressed skepticism about the efficacy of vaccines during her confirmation hearings, Saphier appears to harbor anti-vaccine sentiments. In 2022, Saphier falsely claimed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would imminently require all schoolchildren to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The lie was then repeated ad nauseam on Fox News, including by Tucker Carlson.
In other media appearances, she has expressed vague support for the measles vaccine while also inflating the risks posed by the vaccine itself. Elsewhere on social media, Saphier can be seen condemning the American Academy of Pediatrics for releasing an evidence-based immunization schedule that conflicts with the CDC’s, after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, pushed the CDC to stop recommending certain routine vaccines for kids.
Saphier also literally wrote a book, published in 2020, called “Make America Healthy Again,” a slogan Kennedy has turned into the tagline of his tenure at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Controversial Views on Gender
In keeping with her Fox News roots, Saphier also seems to have strong opinions about gender. In one Fox News clip from 2025, Dr. Saphier slams Disney for what she says is the “demasculinization” of movie characters. “People are not interested in a lot of these woke ideologies, especially men,” she said. “You have to get back some of that testosterone and that adventure and, I’m sorry, but these movies just don’t cut it.”
