From Spirulina to Surgeon General?
Dr. Casey Means and the Death of Medical Rigor
Imagine if the Surgeon General’s uniform came with an Instagram filter.
Welcome to 2025, where the leading candidate for the nation’s top public health role isn’t a practicing physician, academic, or leader in epidemiology. No, it’s Dr. Casey Means—a former ENT resident who left her surgical training six months before completion, deactivated her medical license, and now sells supplements and CGMs to healthy people.
Yes, really.
Let’s break it down.
Who Is Dr. Casey Means?
Dr. Means graduated from Stanford Medical School. She started a surgical residency in otolaryngology but left before completing it. Her medical license went inactive in January 2024. Since then, she’s built a career as a wellness influencer. She co-founded Levels Health—a company that sells continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to people without diabetes—and released a wellness manifesto called Good Energy, promoting the claim that most chronic disease stems from insulin resistance.
Her website features a carefully curated list of her favorite supplements—spirulina, creatine, magnesium—available for purchase, of course. She advocates for a new “root cause” approach to medicine, which often boils down to: blame carbs for everything.
So when Donald Trump, via recommendation from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominated her for Surgeon General, it was less about public health expertise and more about vibes.
Surgeon General Material? Let’s Compare.
America has had Surgeon Generals who were giants in their fields. Let’s take a moment to honor a few:
Dr. C. Everett Koop (1982–1989)
Completed residency
Surgeon-in-Chief at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Professor at the University of Pennsylvania
Over 200 scientific publications
Led the U.S. response to HIV/AIDS and was a fierce anti-smoking advocate
Dr. Vivek Murthy (2014–2017, 2021–present)
Harvard undergrad; MD and MBA from Yale
Internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s (Harvard-affiliated)
Faculty at Harvard Medical School
Multiple peer-reviewed publications on public health
Tackled COVID, loneliness epidemic, vaccine confidence
Dr. Regina Benjamin (2009–2013)
Family physician who ran a rural Alabama clinic
MacArthur “Genius” Grant winner
Focused on health equity and underserved populations
Dr. Jerome Adams (2017–2021)
Anesthesiologist, completed training in a Harvard-affiliated program
MPH from UC Berkeley
State Health Commissioner for Indiana
Advocate for health equity and opioid epidemic response
Dr. Casey Means?
Left residency early
No clinical practice
No academic post
No peer-reviewed publications of note
Inactive medical license
Wellness influencer and supplement seller
The Resurrection of a Dead Hypothesis
Dr. Means’ central claim is that nearly all chronic disease is driven by metabolic dysfunction—particularly insulin resistance. This is a rehash of the long-debunked carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis promoted by Gary Taubes and others.
Decades of high-quality research—from the PREDIMED study to the EPIC cohort to the DASH and Mediterranean diets—have shown that whole grains and carbohydrate-rich plant foods are associated with reduced chronic disease risk, not more.
But nuance doesn’t go viral.
So Dr. Means, like many wellness gurus, markets the glucose spike boogeyman, pushing CGMs to perfectly healthy people. Her message: If your blood sugar went up after oatmeal, you’re on the road to ruin.
Science says: No, you're not.
Surgeon General as Wellness CEO?
The U.S. Surgeon General is supposed to be the nation’s leading voice in public health crises: COVID, tobacco, opioid epidemics, obesity, vaccine misinformation.
What it’s not meant to be: a platform for biohacking advice, self-diagnosis via wearables, and affiliate link-driven supplement sales.
The truth? Dr. Casey Means is not a leader in public health. She’s not a practicing clinician. She’s not a researcher. She’s a brand.
And Surgeon General is not an influencer gig.
America Deserves Better
If this nomination proceeds, we will have moved from surgeon scientists to supplement peddlers. From peer-reviewed science to wellness SEO. From public health leadership to glucose paranoia.
I’m not saying Dr. Means isn’t sincere. I’m saying sincerity isn’t a substitute for clinical experience, scientific rigor, and actual patient care.
The Surgeon General should lead with data, not dopamine hits.
Stay skeptical. Stay informed.
This is Dr. Simpson Unfiltered. Subscribe for more myth-busting, science-driven rants—and don’t forget: real medicine doesn’t come with a promo code.
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