President Trump announced Thursday that he is nominating Dr. Nicole B. Saphier to serve as the next U.S. surgeon general, turning to a Fox News contributor and vocal supporter of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement after his two previous picks collapsed in the Senate.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump hailed Saphier as a “STAR physician” and praised her work in breast cancer treatment. “She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans,” the president wrote. “Dr. Nicole Saphier will do great things for our Country, and help, ‘MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN.’”
Saphier, a radiologist, serves as director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center-Monmouth and has been a Fox News contributor since 2018. She also hosts the “Wellness Unmasked” podcast, which offers “unfiltered conversations” on wellness and “evidence-based insight” on healthy living. Recent episodes have tackled Trump’s executive order on psychedelic drug research for mental health and the Pentagon’s decision to end mandatory flu shots for troops.
On the flu vaccine issue, Saphier took a cautious stance, questioning whether the policy shift amounts to “medical freedom or military risk.” She called for data-driven evaluation, saying, “I don’t know if I’m for or against this move. I approach it with caution, and I really hope that they’ll put together some data so we can evaluate next year.” She stressed that “good health policy shouldn’t be driven by ideology or people trying to get political talking points. It should be driven by evidence.”
Saphier is a prominent advocate of the MAHA movement, championed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In 2020, she published a book titled Make America Healthy Again: How Bad Behavior and Big Government Caused a Trillion-Dollar Crisis, which criticizes the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and takes aim at the Affordable Care Act. The book argues that “personal responsibility” is key to lowering healthcare costs, stating that “we can no longer expect doctors and the government to fix illnesses we have the power to prevent.”
The nomination now heads to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. If approved there, it will go to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. Trump’s previous pick, Dr. Casey Means, faced opposition from Democrats and Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) over her vaccination views. Trump pulled Means’s nomination and blasted Cassidy as a “very disloyal person,” endorsing a primary challenger against the Louisiana senator.
The president’s strained relationship with Cassidy could complicate Saphier’s path, though her more mainstream profile as a practicing radiologist and media commentator may ease concerns. Saphier’s confirmation would mark a win for the MAHA agenda and signal Trump’s continued focus on reshaping public health messaging.
