Health Care

Who is Nicole Saphier, new Trump surgeon general nominee?

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by Sarah Davis - 04/30/26 2:45 PM ET

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by Sarah Davis - 04/30/26 2:45 PM ET

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President Trump tapped Dr. Nicole B. Saphier on Thursday to be the next U.S. surgeon general.

The president called Saphier a “STAR physician” in a Truth Social post, specifically commending her work on breast cancer treatment.

“She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans,” Trump wrote in the post.

“Dr. Nicole Saphier will do great things for our Country, and help, ‘MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN,’” he continued. “Congratulations Nicole, our Country has long been waiting for you!”

Saphier is now the third person Trump has picked to lead the Office of the Surgeon General, after his two previous nominees failed to receive Senate support.

Here’s what you need to know about Saphier’s nomination:

Public health commentary

Saphier is a radiologist who has served as a Fox News contributor since 2018. She is also the director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center-Monmouth.

Additionally, Saphier runs the “Wellness Unmasked” podcast, where she engages in “unfiltered conversations” about wellness and provides “evidence-based insight” about healthy living practices, according to the show’s description.

Recent episodes of her show explore topics like Trump’s recent executive order that directed accelerated research into the use of certain psychedelic drugs to treat mental health disorders.

Saphier on a recent podcast episode took a hesitant approach to the Pentagon’s decision to end mandatory flu vaccinations for service members, questioning whether the move amounts to “medical freedom or military risk.”

“I don’t know if I’m for or against this move,” she said. “I approach it with caution, and I really hope that they’ll put together some data so we can evaluate next year to see what sort of outcome this has.”

Saphier said the government should monitor changes in the rates of influenza contraction and hospitalization and whether military readiness is impacted by this new policy over the next year.

“That’s what we should be watching because good health policy shouldn’t be driven by ideology or people trying to get political talking points,” she said. “It should be driven by evidence.”

MAHA advocacy

Saphier has been an avid proponent of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, a cause championed by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In 2020, Saphier wrote a book titled, “Make America Healthy Again: How Bad Behavior and Big Government Caused a Trillion-Dollar Crisis.”

The book covers topics like cancer, the opioid crisis, health care costs and “personal responsibility.” She also criticizes the U.S. government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, writing that the federal response prioritized politics over scientific data.

In the book, Saphier also joined Republicans in criticizing the Affordable Care Act, a landmark Obama-era healthcare reform policy.

“Policies such as the Affordable Care Act and single-payer plans ignore something crucial to lowering the overall financial burden: personal responsibility,” the book’s description reads. “We can no longer expect doctors and the government to fix illnesses we have the power to prevent. Regardless of which health policy is adopted, our nation will flounder unless we take action. It is up to the American people to make America healthy again.”

What’s next?

Saphier’s nomination will now head to Congress for consideration from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. If the committee successfully backs the nomination, it will then move to the Senate floor for a full confirmation vote.

Trump’s previous nominee, Dr. Casey Means, faced opposition from Democrats on the committee along with Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) over her stance on vaccinations.

The president called Cassidy a “very disloyal person” in a Truth Social post on Thursday announcing his decision to pull Means’s nomination.

Trump has endorsed a primary challenger in Cassidy’s reelection race, and he criticized the senator’s “intransigence and political games” on the surgeon general nomination in the Thursday post.

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