Who is Dr Nicole Saphier? Trump's new Surgeon General pick replacing Casey Means
Dr Means’s confirmation was stalled in the US Senate due to her controversial stance of vaccines
Published May 01, 2026
United States President Donald Trump has nominated Dr Nicole Saphier for the U.S. Surgeon General position after pulling the name of his initial pick Dr Casey Means.
Dr Means’s confirmation process in the Senate faced major delays prompting President Trump to nominate someone else.
Previously a Fox News contributor and a breast radiologist by profession, Dr Saphier is currently serving as the Director of Breast Imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center-Monmouth.
Announcing the nomination in Truth Social post, the 47th POTUS 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.”
President Trump continued, “She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans.”
Dr Means’s confirmation was stalled in the U.S. Senate due to her controversial stance of vaccines, birth control and psychedelics. She is a member of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement and was nominated on the recommendation of Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
It remains to be seen if Dr Saphier secures confirmation from the Senate or the body stalls her nomination as well.
She won’t be the first one from Fox News to serve in the Trump administration as Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is also a former Fox News employee.
