People Power United joins coalition to Urge Senators to Oppose Means’ Nomination

🗽A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.

People Power United joins coalition to Urge Senators to Oppose Means’ Nomination. Shout out to Public Citizen for leading this effort. Here is the letter sent on behalf of our membership.

July 25, 2025

Dear Senator,

The undersigned organizations urge you to vote against confirming Dr. Casey Means as Surgeon General. Means is not a serious nominee and is wholly unqualified to serve as a lead U.S. public health official.

Means does not have an active medical license and dropped out of her surgical residency before completing it. She states that it was after leaving traditional medical practice that she began to “understand the real reasons why people get sick” and properly treat them. Colleagues from her residency have criticized her for wrongly perpetuating the idea that modern medicine is a conspiracy to keep people sick.

Indeed, in her blog posts and interviews as a wellness influencer, Means has expressed misinformed and conspiratorial thinking on matters of public health. She has called birth control pills a “disrespect of life.” She has declined to distance herself from anti-vaccine positions espoused by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., refused to say if she thinks vaccines are effective, and has even expressed skepticism about the hepatitis B vaccination for babies. She wrote, “There is growing evidence that the total burden of the current extreme and growing vaccine schedule is causing health declines in vulnerable children.”

Means also has potential conflicts of interest. She founded and is the chief medical officer of Levels, a membership-based continuous glucose monitoring technology company. If she does not step down from this role and divest from the company, she will likely be engaging directly on matters as Surgeon General from which she stands to personally profit.

The Surgeon General of the United States has two fundamental responsibilities. One is to lead the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS) – over 6,000 civil servants dedicated to improving public health in the United States. Many of these civil servants are subject matter experts who have already been wrongfully terminated by the Trump Administration and by directives from Secretary Kennedy. Means may have experience as an influencer, but she has little to no managerial experience in the context of government agencies or scientific research. This lack of experience means she may be out of her depth leading a critical agency in these uncertain times.

Second, the Surgeon General plays a critical role as the nation’s chief health communicator. That role requires the Surgeon General to educate the American public about the best available science and, when needed, to issue authoritative public health advisories. They should not be merely promoting their personal beliefs or making decisions based on anything but scientific evidence. The range of unscientific ideas, wellness products and conspiratorial claims that Means is associated with makes her a less than ideal candidate to serve in a role that requires being a credible health communicator for the country and upholding sound science.

These are seriously disqualifying characteristics for the Surgeon General of the US and the Trump administration should immediately rescind Means’ nomination for this position. If they do not, and her confirmation proceeds to the Senate floor, senators must vote no.

Sincerely,

AFL-CIO
AIDS Foundation Chicago
Americans for Democratic Action Southern California
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Balanced
Beta Cell Action
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Community Catalyst
Consilium Scientific
Defend Public Health
Doctors for America
Healthy Schools Campaign
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health
Labor Campaign for Single Payer
MomsRising
National Consumers League
National Council of Jewish Women
National Nurses United
National Women’s Law Center
People Power United
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)
Progressive Democrats of America, Maryland
Public Advocacy for Kids (PAK)
Public Citizen
Rise Up WV
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
T1International
The Insulin Initiative
Unity Fellowship of Christ Church-NYC
VOCAL-NY
Voices of Health Care Action

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