Trump’s new pick for surgeon general has both praised and cringed at his administration

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Nicole Saphier is President Donald Trump’s latest pick for the vacant role of U.S. surgeon general, a nomination that ended the embattled campaign of his previous candidate, Dr. Casey Means, after it became clear she didn’t have the votes to advance out of a Senate committee.

Saphier, a radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor, has promoted several aspects of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, including removing food additives, cutting ultraprocessed foods from diets and encouraging exercise.

But she has been a more vocal advocate for vaccination than Kennedy, and at times she has criticized the Trump administration’s handling of health issues as “embarrassing.”

If confirmed as the nation’s doctor, Saphier would be empowered to issue advisories that warn of public health threats. Surgeons general also have used the office to advocate on vaccination issues — though the office doesn’t create vaccine policy.

Means, a Stanford University-educated physician and MAHA influencer who didn’t complete her surgical residency in Oregon and has an inactive medical license, faced grueling questioning from senators of both major political parties over her experience and stance on vaccination. She told The Associated Press her failed nomination was the result of a “yearlong smear campaign.”

Saphier is a mom, radiologist and former Fox News contributor

Trump’s new surgeon general pick is the director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, according to her profile on the institution’s website. She has a medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados, along with fellowships at the Mayo Clinic, according to her profile.

She has earned the approval of institutions including the American College of Radiology, whose president, Dr. Dana Smetherman, on Thursday called her a “tireless advocate for women’s health.” Kennedy said in a social media post that her experience with breast cancer patients and early detection will help the Republican administration take on the chronic disease epidemic.

Saphier was also a longtime Fox News Channel contributor until this week — one of several of the channel’s personalities Trump has brought into his administration. Trump’s first surgeon general pick, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, was also a contributor at the network, but her nomination fell apart last year after questions arose about her academic credentials.

An author and podcaster with her own show, “Wellness Unmasked with Dr. Nicole Saphier,” Saphier frequently comments on the Trump administration’s approach to health, often positively. She also used the phrase “Make America Healthy Again” years before Kennedy popularized it. It was the title of a 2020 book she wrote that criticized the government’s handling of healthcare and the Affordable Care Act.

Saphier also has dipped into the wellness product industry, creating a line of herbal supplements called Drop Rx, according to her LinkedIn profile.

A mom of three boys, Saphier has often said she is thankful she decided to keep her first son after becoming unexpectedly pregnant at age 17. She has advocated for more resources for mothers who make the same choice.

Advocating for vaccination while criticizing COVID-era mandates

Like Means, Saphier has questioned some aspects of the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule, including the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, a longtime recommendation that the Trump administration has been trying to weaken.

She also has aligned with Kennedy’s disdain toward COVID-19 vaccination requirements in schools, saying on her podcast in September that they were “a complete disaster” and one of the reasons for declining trust in vaccination.

Saphier says she supports immunization while arguing patients should be free to make their own medical decisions. In March, she praised acting U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for posting a message encouraging Americans to get vaccinated against measles.

“The more vaccine confusion we create, the more preventable disease we will see,” she said in September, urging the administration to get itself in order “because it’s really upsetting.”

She’s called the health department’s mistakes ‘embarrassing’

While being supportive of the Trump administration at large, Saphier has publicly cringed at some of its health mishaps. Last summer, she decried its long-anticipated first attempt at a MAHA report, which cited some studies that didn’t exist.

“There were a lot of flaws in this report,” she said on her podcast. “In fact, it was pretty embarrassing.”

She said Kennedy’s firing of his first CDC director, Susan Monarez, after less than a month on the job was “a mess.”

“When we keep hearing radical transparency and we’re going to regain trust, I can tell you these shenanigans are taking us farther away from that mission,” Saphier said on her podcast.

In an email to the AP last year, Saphier said Trump’s advice to pregnant women not to take Tylenol, which promoted unproven ties between the medication and autism, was overly simplistic. She said equally important, and missing from Trump’s message, was the fact that untreated fever or severe pain can also pose serious risks to mothers and babies.

After Means’ confirmation hearings earlier this year, Saphier said on her podcast that she expected Means would do a good job as surgeon general but wished she were “a little bit less involved with MAHA.”

“I’d really like to see a little bit more reaching across the aisle when it comes to public health,” Saphier said. “That doesn’t mean it has to be some Democratic nominee for surgeon general, maybe just someone a little less aligned with the MAHA movement who, I don’t know, finished their residency and has an active medical license.”

At least a few prominent MAHA influencers have suggested Saphier is no ally. Turning Point USA podcaster and anti-pesticide campaigner Alex Clark said in a post on Friday that Saphier “gets an F when it comes to all things MAHA.”