Senator Marshall Introduces Dr. Casey Means at Surgeon General Nomination Hearing

Washington - On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), introduced Dr. Casey Means at her nomination hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Dr. Means has been nominated by President Trump to serve as Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service.

Senator Marshall highlighted Dr. Means' background as a physician and her commitment to advancing preventive care, addressing chronic disease, and strengthening public trust in America's health institutions.

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

Senator Marshall's remarks as delivered:

"Thank you for joining us here this week. I'm especially glad we're able to hold this meeting, which was long overdue, but being in labor is one of the best excuses we've had to delay a hearing. So, congratulations to your family. We hope baby boy, Phoenix, 17 weeks old today, is doing great."

"And again, we appreciate you being here. As my colleagues have already said, Today, nearly eight in 10 adults, representing almost 200 million people in this country, live with at least one chronic disease, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, our children, our children the pride of this nation. The situation is equally alarming. Approximately 20% of our youth are obese. One in three adolescents age 12 to 17 have prediabetes - one in three. And when it comes to our mental health, at least one in five American adults - 60 million people experience some form of mental illness each year. Those are epidemic numbers."

"We need a Surgeon General, the nation's doctor, to guide us back to health, mobilizing science-based strategies to prevent disease, promote wellness, and address these epidemics head on. The Surgeon General serves as our country's chief health educator, but more than an educator, a coach, a cheerleader, providing evidence-based guidance to improve health and respond to crisis, while leading the US Public Health Service Commission Corps and advising on key policies."

"Over the course of this process, I've truly enjoyed reading Dr. Means books, her publications, and getting to know her and hearing her thoughtful vision for improving the health of Americans. Dr. Casey Means is a uniquely qualified, Stanford-trained physician who began surgical training at Oregon Health and Science University, where she excelled in clinical performance and patient care for underserved populations. Before leaving that traditional system, like many of us, she was disillusioned by its focus on treating symptoms versus addressing the real causes."

"She left it to champion preventive metabolic health. She co-founded Levels Health, using innovative glucose monitoring to empower metabolic health insights, and authored the best-selling book, Good Energy, which I'd recommend everybody on this committee to read to better understand exactly who she is. She offered science-based strategies to prevent chronic illnesses through lifestyle changes. Dr. Means brings a forward-thinking vision focused on prevention, innovation, and patient empowerment. She is a proven communicator. She's appeared on over 200 podcasts. She's a faculty course director at Stanford. She's been featured in articles in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and The New York Times. She inspires and educates on complex health issues. She's poised to shift us from reactive sick care to proactive health care, emphasizing metabolic health to truly make America healthy again. Her entrepreneurial spirit and clinical background would drive solutions prioritizing outcomes over bureaucracy, aligning with the making to make America healthy movement again."

"So that's my formal introduction, from my heart. You know, from my heart, go back to our childhood. In my childhood in the 1960's, everybody smoked, everybody did, but a Surgeon General, Dr. Luther Terry under LBJ, had the courage to stand up and say smoking causes lung cancer. He couldn't finish the job. It was then, under President Nixon, that the next Surgeon General, Dr. Jesse Steinfeld, stepped forward and educated children, who then educated their parents on the hazards of smoking, something that I see every day."

"My kids have educated me on what good nutrition, healthy nutrition, looks like. And then who can forget Surgeon General, Dr. C Everett Koop, who gave us moral and scientific clarity during the AIDS epidemic? And that's what I think Dr. Means can be. I think that she can move the needle. We do have a chronic health epidemic. No one can deny that. And like I said before, we need a surgeon general who's more than an educator. We need a coach. We need a communicator. We need a cheerleader to address these chronic diseases. And I believe that Dr. Casey Means is the person for the job. Thank you, Chairman."

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