Sept. 16 (UPI) — A Senate committee is scheduled to hold a confirmation hearing for Dr. Nicole Saphier, a radiologist, wellness influencer and former Fox News contributor, to be surgeon general Wednesday.
President Donald Trump nominated Saphier to the post in April after pulling the nomination of activist Casey Means. The position has been empty since Trump took office for his second term in January 2025. He also pulled his May 2025 nomination of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat.
Unlike Means, Saphier comes to the role with a medical background. She’s the director of breast imaging at a New Jersey location of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The New York Times reported. She also started a supplement company and values Western medicine alongside what she called “Eastern techniques” and “natural remedies.”
While Means was a Make America Healthy Again activist, Saphier wrote a book in 2020 using the phrase as a title before now-Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., began using the slogan.
Saphier has been critical of Kennedy in the past, calling into question his hiring of anti-vaccine activist David Geier to work on autism issues in HHS.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is also expected to hold confirmation hearings for Chris Klomp, nominee for deputy secretary of HHS and Dr. Timothy Westlake, nominee for assistant secretary of Mental Health and Substance Use, NPR reported.
Klomp is a former health tech executive and has been involved in running much of the HHS’ daily operations since February. Westlake is an emergency doctor from Wisconsin.
Source: U.S. News
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