WATCH LIVE: Casey Means testifies at Senate confirmation hearing for Surgeon General

NEW YORK (AP) — Dr. Casey Means, a health influencer, author and entrepreneur, on Wednesday faced senators at her confirmation hearing to become the nation’s next surgeon general, a platform she said she will use to advance efforts to end chronic diseases by tackling their root causes, including through dietary and lifestyle changes.

The Senate confirmation hearing begins at 10 a.m. EST. Watch the live stream in our video player above.

“Our nation is angry, exhausted, and hurting from preventable diseases,” the 38-year-old said during her opening remarks in Washington before the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday. “Public health leaders must address evidence-based, modifiable drivers of chronic disease, which include ultra-processed foods, exposure to industrial chemicals, lack of physical activity, chronic stress and loneliness, and over-medication.”

He watches: Professional background of Casey Means, Trump’s pick for Surgeon General

Means, a close ally of Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again movement, shares a vision that aligns with that of the nation’s health department, which has shifted its focus away from controversial vaccine policy changes and toward healthy eating as the midterm elections approach.

But she is also expected to face tough questions about her qualifications and potential conflicts. The Stanford-educated doctor’s disillusionment with conventional medicine propelled her into a career in which she promoted a wide range of products, sometimes without revealing how they benefited financially.

“I have very serious questions about Dr. Means’ ability to be the Surgeon General this country needs,” Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the ranking member on the Senate Health Committee, said Wednesday.

As the nation’s doctor, the Surgeon General is a leader for Americans and health officials on public health issues. If confirmed, the media will be enabled to issue warnings warning of public health threats. She will also be charged with promoting Kennedy’s sprawling MAHA agenda, which calls for removing thousands of additives from American foods, eliminating conflicts of interest in federal agencies and promoting healthier foods in school lunches and other nutrition programs.

Surgeons general have also used the office at times to advocate on vaccination-related issues — although the office has no role in setting vaccine policy. The outlets mostly steered clear of Kennedy’s exposed views on vaccines but called for further investigation into their safety.

Al-Wasail does not have any government experience, and her license to practice as a doctor is not currently valid. After graduating from Stanford University School of Medicine with an M.D. degree, she left the surgical residency program at Oregon Health & Science University in 2018. She cited her belief that the health care system was broken and exploitative as her reason for withdrawing.

She then turned to alternative approaches to address what she described as widespread metabolic dysfunction caused largely by malnutrition and overeating of ultra-processed foods.

Because she had completed enough postgraduate training to obtain a medical license, she did so and started her own functional medicine practice in Oregon, which later closed. She co-founded Levels, a nutrition, sleep, and exercise tracking app that can also provide insights to users through blood tests and continuous glucose monitoring.

Financial disclosures show it has made hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting health and wellness products, including specialty basil seed supplements, teas, elixirs, probiotic products, and a prepared meal delivery service. An Associated Press investigation found that while recommending these products, they sometimes failed to disclose the potential for profit or profit from sales.

In an ethics filing, Means said that if she is confirmed to the position by the full Senate, she will resign from her position with Levels and forfeit or withdraw her stock and stock options in the company. She also pledged to stop working for Rupa, a company specializing in laboratory work for which she developed an online course. Although she may continue to receive royalty payments from her book “Good Energy,” she will not promote it, the document said.

The filing also noted that it “will not have any direct financial interest in entities on the FDA’s restricted property list.”

Media said on Wednesday that it wants to fix what it sees as failings in the country’s health care system – what it refers to as “reactive sick care.”

“President Trump and Secretary Kennedy have called for a mature, frank, and big conversation about how our medical education and reforming perverse incentives can save us from the brink, and for that I am deeply grateful,” she said in her opening remarks.

At least two former surgeons general have publicly suggested the methods are not right for the job.

Read more: Why nutritionists fear new federal dietary guidelines that advise double the protein

In an op-ed in The Hill last May, former Bush administration surgeon general Dr. Rich Carmona wrote that Means’s professional credentials “raise serious concerns.” Later that month, President Donald Trump’s first-term Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, wrote on the social platform

Means is seeking to join the department where her brother, Callie Means, already works. As a senior adviser to the US Department of Health and Human Services, he helped promote the Republican administration’s message about the dangers of ultra-processed foods.

The nomination for Trump’s first pick for surgeon general, Janet Nesheiwat, a former Fox News medical contributor, was withdrawn after she came under criticism from the president’s allies.

Mians was nominated for this role last May. Her confirmation hearing was rescheduled from last October, when she went into labor on the day she was scheduled to appear.