Nicole Saphier: Everything You Need to Know About Trump's Surgeon General Nominee

Who Is Nicole Saphier, Trump's Third Pick for US Surgeon General?

Donald Trump has named Nicole Saphier as his third nominee for US surgeon general, a choice that health experts describe as politically savvy and likely confirmable — though not without controversy. A radiologist and frequent Fox News medical contributor, Saphier brings a media-polished image to a role that, while holding no regulatory or legislative power, remains one of the most influential public health positions in the country.

Why Two Previous Nominees Failed

Saphier's nomination follows the collapsed bids of Janette Nesheiwat and Casey Means. Means, who lacked an active medical license, drew criticism for deep financial ties to the wellness industry and a documented skepticism toward vaccines. Nesheiwat, also a former Fox contributor, similarly failed to gain sufficient support. Saphier, by contrast, holds an active medical license and currently practices medicine — a baseline qualification that her predecessor failed to meet.

Her Medical Background and Professional Standing

Saphier specializes in breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Monmouth facility. Her clinical work centers heavily on cancer prevention, with a particular focus on breast cancer. She has linked rising breast cancer rates to shifting social trends such as delayed pregnancies, declining birth rates, and reduced breastfeeding, and has advocated for policies that support young parents and nursing mothers as part of a broader prevention strategy.

Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general during Trump's first term, offered a measured endorsement of Saphier's nomination. He described her as "an exceptionally clear communicator" who is especially effective at reaching conservative audiences that tend to distrust mainstream public health messaging. Adams also noted that he has worked alongside Saphier and found her to be independent-minded rather than merely deferential. However, he expressed hope that her preference for individual responsibility over government-led public health solutions would evolve once she gained a fuller picture of America's health challenges.

"You can't always make the healthy choice when the environment only offers bad ones," Adams remarked.

Her Ties to Fox News and the MAHA Movement

If confirmed, Saphier would become the 25th person connected to Fox News to hold a senior position in Trump's second administration. She has appeared on the network more than 640 times, making her one of its most recognizable medical voices.

Her 2020 book, Make America Healthy Again, predates Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s use of the same phrase by four years. Kennedy, now serving as Secretary of Health and Human Services, transformed the slogan into the rallying cry of the MAHA movement — a coalition blending anti-vaccine activists, nutrition advocates, environmentalists, and supplement industry figures. Saphier's podcast covers overlapping territory, addressing topics like GLP-1 medications, substance use, microplastics, infectious disease, and nutrition.

Unlike Kennedy's more radical positions, Saphier's health philosophy leans toward personal responsibility and skepticism of government intervention, though she stops short of full anti-establishment stances on most issues.

Vaccine Stance: Nuanced or Problematic?

Saphier's position on vaccines is one of the most scrutinized aspects of her public record. She does not identify as anti-vaccine, and in February 2025 she stated that the best available research does not support a link between vaccines and autism. In March 2026, she voiced alarm about falling vaccination rates and a worsening measles outbreak, urging a return to higher coverage.

"We need to roll back a lot of the mandates, but we also need to make sure that there is clear messaging that vaccines — while they come with risks — are overwhelmingly safe and do prevent serious illness from what would be preventable diseases," she said on her podcast.

However, she has also questioned the routine childhood vaccine schedule, a stance she said was shaped by her son's bout with whooping cough. She has called for more critical scrutiny of the schedule and has suggested comparing the US immunization program with those of other countries. She also questioned why the hepatitis B vaccine is required for school attendance, citing it as not highly contagious — a claim that overlooks evidence that the virus can survive on shared surfaces for up to a week and can cause serious illness in children.

Bioethicist Arthur Caplan was direct in his criticism: "Sometimes she talks about spacing out the vaccine schedule. That's nonsense. There's no reason to do that. What's dangerous to a child is not getting all the vaccines properly."

Saphier also criticized the communication surrounding changes to the childhood vaccine schedule under the current administration, saying the rollout created unnecessary confusion among the public.

Her Record on COVID-19

Saphier's public commentary during the pandemic drew scrutiny from public health professionals. In early 2021, she incorrectly claimed that children did not transmit COVID-19 as efficiently as adults and argued that teachers should return to classrooms before vaccines were widely available. Later that year, as the Omicron variant emerged, she suggested allowing the variant to spread to build hybrid immunity — a period during which approximately 244,000 Americans died of COVID-related causes in the following year alone.

She also repeated a widely debunked claim in 2022 that the CDC was planning to mandate COVID vaccines for all schoolchildren, a rumor that has persisted as a fixture in anti-vaccine circles.

More recently, she expressed support for removing the COVID vaccine recommendation for healthy children, praised the decision publicly, and criticized the American Academy of Pediatrics for continuing to recommend the shot after Kennedy scaled back federal guidance.

Stance on Gender-Affirming Care

Saphier has been an outspoken critic of gender-affirming medical care for minors. She has characterized being transgender as a mental health crisis, described it as a potential "fad," and called it a "national emergency" during a podcast interview with someone who had detransitioned. She has also opposed research into the use of hormone blockers for transgender youth.

Business Interests and Supplement Industry Ties

Like her predecessor Casey Means, Saphier has financial interests in the wellness industry. She owns Drop Rx, an herbal tincture company, and regularly promotes supplements on social media — including claims that "rosemary and sage decrease Alzheimer's risk." Such claims have not been reviewed or approved by the FDA, as the supplement industry remains largely unregulated in the United States.

Views on DOGE and Cancer Research Cuts

When federal cancer research funding was paused last year, Saphier acknowledged that her colleagues expressed concern — but she defended the cuts carried out under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the cost-cutting initiative led by Elon Musk.

"I think DOGE is probably one of the greatest things to happen in US history," she said publicly, a statement that drew criticism from the medical research community.

What Experts Say About Her Chances

Despite the controversies, health policy analysts suggest Saphier is well-positioned to win Senate confirmation. Her active medical license, communication skills, and political alignment with the current administration make her, in the words of several observers, "almost a lock." Whether she will use the surgeon general's bully pulpit to advance evidence-based public health policy — or continue to sow doubt on established science — remains to be seen.