By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will hold its delayed confirmation hearing for Casey Means, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general, next week, the committee said on Wednesday.
The hearing will take place on February 25, the HELP committee said in a statement. It was originally scheduled last October but had to be postponed after Means, who was 40 weeks pregnant at the time, went into labor.
As the nation’s doctor, the surgeon general provides Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury.
The 38-year-old wellness influencer had planned to say she has spent 15 years treating thousands of patients in clinics and operating rooms as well as running her own medical practice, according to her written testimony ahead of the postponed hearing in October.
She graduated medical school at Stanford University but subsequently dropped out of her surgical residency. Her medical license status is currently listed as “inactive” by the Oregon Medical Board, though it is not expired. Means, on her website, said that her license status is voluntary because she is not actively seeing patients.
Means is Trump’s second nominee to the position. He abruptly withdrew his nomination of Janette Nesheiwat in May after she was criticized by far right activist Laura Loomer, who has since also criticized the choice of Means.
Her nomination has also drawn fire from more establishment voices.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey)
