Senator Marshall: Dr. Means Will Be a Force for Healthier Lives in America

Senator Marshall Questions Dr. Casey Means at Senate HELP Committee Hearing

Washington - After formally introducing her before the committee, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), questioned Surgeon General of the Public Health Service nominee, Dr. Casey Means, on her vision for transforming America's health care system from a "sick care" system to one focused on prevention and root causes.

Their exchange centered on tackling chronic disease, improving access to nutritious food, addressing environmental drivers of illness, and confronting the growing mental health crisis among America's youth.

Click HERE or on the image above to watch Senator Marshall's full remarks.

Highlights from the hearing include:

Senator Marshall: "Thank you, Chairman. Before I begin my questioning, Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to submit this statement from Stanford School of Medicine, supporting Dr. Means' nomination and recognizing her as an outstanding student to the record without objection. Dr. Means, do you have a medical license?

Dr. Means: "I do. For eleven years exactly."

Senator Marshall: "Thank you. Wanted to make sure we clarified that as well. Dr. Means, there are so many things that you could focus on, you know, narrow it down to what would be if you could accomplish one thing, what might it be? And so, it's hard not to get into two and three, but just share a little bit what's on your heart and your goals, what's your mantra going to be?"

Dr. Means: "Thank you, Senator Marshall, my dream for this role is first and foremost to help nudge, push, inspire our health care system towards focusing on root causes and the reasons why we're getting sick, moving towards a real health care system, and not just a reactive sick care system, which is, of course, also going to lower costs monumentally and unburden I think American taxpayers and doctors, I want to see affordable, accessible, real, nutritious food for all Americans, because we know that nutrition and food is one of the key most important drivers of chronic illness or of health, and we're not eating real food. We're eating 70% of ultra-processed food right now, and there are structural barriers to making that possible that good policy and reform in the health care system can fix, and I believe there's political will and cultural momentum to do so, and I look forward to being a leader in that. And I would say lastly, a key passion of mine is to understand how the cumulative burden of the exposures we have in our environment, across food, water, air, soil, the products we're putting in and on our bodies, how these are affecting our health? We know that these diseases are going up rapidly. And of course, genetics have not changed over the past 20/30-40-50 years. It's environmental exposures that are making us sick, and we have not prioritized studying them. And the NIH and the MAHA movement are focused on looking at this, and I think this is going to be a rapid accelerant of understanding why we're sick and how to heal."

Senator Marshall: "You and I are both concerned about the mental health epidemic, but especially in our youth, and I'm not expecting you to commit to this today, but at least to seriously consider what type of warning label we should put on social media, and at what age. You know we have tobacco warnings that it could be hazardous to your health, and that alcohol could be hazardous to your health. In my humble opinion, social media, for all of us, but especially young minds, can be hazardous to your health. So, I'm asking you if you would just consider putting some type of a surgeon general's warning and concern about social media for especially our young adults, teenagers, health."

Dr. Means: "Thank you. This is an area where I believe the last Surgeon General also did incredible work. And you know, obviously researchers and thinkers like Jonathan Haidt are doing great work on this and really getting the message out there into culture of the problems, and I am committed to working with you and truly anyone within the medical establishment, the tech world and the government to make sure that we're protecting children from harms of social media and of excess screen use. You know, when we think about the world we want to see for our children, I think all of us know that we want to see our children outdoors, feeling safe, playing in the sunshine, joyful, interacting with other children, thriving, playing, and that's the world that I envision for my child and for all American children. And I think part of getting to that vision is making sure that we're being very judicious about how we address digital technology use, and, of course, making sure that children are prepared, you know, to use technology thoughtfully and responsibly, but making sure that when there's evidence showing which I believe there is that social media and premature use of these programs is hurting their own mental health, that we take action."

Senator Marshall: "Let's talk about nutrition for a second. Through your eyes, I think we all acknowledge that America needs to eat better, but not everyone can afford to go to Whole Foods. Carbohydrates are cheap. Processed foods are somewhat, you know, typically cheaper. But how do we help the masses?"

Dr. Means: "This is the most important question, because obviously, if it's not the easiest and the most accessible choice, it's not going to be sustainable for all Americans, which is what we need. This is why I'm so supportive of some of these systemic changes that are happening. So the dietary guidelines for America, like I mentioned, just by changing that and calling out no more ultra processed foods full throatedly, which is what they did, this is going to feed into billions and billions of meals per year of changing procurement towards local, organic whole foods for kids, military, prisons, hospitals, organizations that are getting federal dollars. So that's going to make billions of meals more accessible for people through federal dollars. Additionally, with the GRAS loophole that the FDA is addressing, Dr. Marty Makary, this is going to mean that we can't even necessarily put some of these chemicals in our food. And then at the NIH, they are going to be studying this more thoroughly. And so, I think altogether, this is going to trickle into a safer, healthier food system for Americans that's going to be more affordable. I would also just mention SNAP. The reforms to SNAP are making these federal dollars go towards healthier food, and I think that's going to have a huge impact on actually getting healthier food to low-income communities, because if the dollars are flowing there towards healthier food, the brands and the companies are going to bring their food there."

Senator Marshall: "Thank you, Dr. Means. I look forward to supporting your nomination. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman."

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