Senate plans hearing with Trump's surgeon general pick Casey Means next week: Sources
The influential Senate HELP Committee is planning a hearing next Thursday with Casey Means, President Donald Trump's latest pick for surgeon general, considered "America's Top Doc," several people familiar with the situation told ABC News, though they cautioned the hearing has yet to be finalized. A Senate HELP Committee nomination usually leads to full Senate approval.
Means is pregnant and is expected to attend virtually, the sources added.
She will meet later Tuesday with the staff of Republican HELP Committee members to discuss the timing of her hearing, two people familiar with the meeting told ABC News.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services referred ABC News to the HELP Committee.
"Dr. Means' nomination hearing has not been finalized," a HELP Committee spokesperson said in a statement. "We continue to work with Dr. Means and the administration to move her nomination through the process and schedule a hearing."
The HELP Committee’s plans were first reported by Bloomberg.
Means, whom Trump nominated in May, would be one of the last major health nominees to appear for a Senate hearing. The White House withdrew the nomination of Trump's initial surgeon general pick, former Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat.
A wellness entrepreneur, Means earned a medical degree from Stanford, but she left her residency program with just months remaining, a decision she has attributed to her becoming "disillusioned with the practice and incentives of surgical care," according to her biography on her website.
Trump, after nominating Means in May, told reporters he chose her "because Bobby thought she was fantastic," referring to HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"I don't know her. I listen to the recommendation of Bobby," he added.
In government filings submitted last month, Means pledged to resign from her position as an advisor for Levels Health, Inc., a wellness company that includes packages with an extensive battery of blood tests, glucose-monitoring and health coaching -- subscriptions run from $288 to $1,499 a year.
She also promised to stop her work as an influencer promoting supplements and other wellness products, and to stop promoting her book, "Good Energy," which was published last year.
Means pledged to divest of stock in a handful of companies, including Altria Group, which owns the maker of Marlboro cigarettes.
The surgeon general typically works to educate Americans on how to improve their health and reduce risk of illness/injury and oversee the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. In recent times, surgeons general often pick a central topic to tackle during part of their term. The last surgeon general, Vivek Murphy, worked to tackle the loneliness epidemic and social media risks with children.
Some prior work from the surgeon general has greatly influenced public health over the past decades, such as the 1964 report that concluded that cigarette smoking is a major cause of lung cancer in both men and women.
An HHS spokesman told ABC News that the Altria Group stock was purchased by Means' husband before they were married.
