President Trump nominates radiologist to serve as surgeon general

President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated a radiologist to serve as surgeon general. 

He’s picking Nicole B. Saphier, MD, a board-certified breast specialist with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Fox News contributor, to fill the key role. As the “nation’s doctor,” Saphier would serve as chief health educator and spokesperson for the U.S., acting as the primary authority on public health issues. 

Coinciding with the selection, Trump is yanking his previous pick—Casey Means, MD, an author and wellness influencer—amid concerns about her qualifications and views on vaccines. 

“Nicole is a star physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention,” Trump shared on Truth Social Thursday, adding that she works with “men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments.” 

“She is also an incredible communicator, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans,” he added. “Dr. Nicole Saphier will do great things for our country, and help, ‘make America healthy again.’”

Saphier graduated from the Ross University School of Medicine, a for-profit training institution in Barbados, in 2008, according to LinkedIn. She completed her diagnostic radiology residency through Creighton University at the Maricopa Medical Center, Phoenix, in 2013, and a women’s and oncologic imaging fellowship at the Mayo Clinic the following year. 

Saphier works full time as a radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering and professor at the Weill Cornell Medical College in the New York City area. She is director of breast imaging at both MSK Monmouth in Middletown, New Jersey, and interim director at MSK Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Saphier is experienced in performing image-guided procedures of the breast, kidney, pancreas, liver, thyroid and lymph nodes, according to her MSK profile page. She sees patients at MSK’s Manhattan and Monmouth locations. 

“Breast cancer screening, diagnosis, and intervention are my clinical and research cornerstones,” Saphier said in her profile. “I take great care in coordinating and interpreting mammograms, breast ultrasounds and breast MRIs.”

Outside of medical imaging, Saphier is the host of “Wellness Unmasked,” an iHeart Radio Podcast. She additionally has served as a Fox News contributor since 2018, breaking down the latest medical, wellness and opinion news across different platforms, she notes on LinkedIn. Saphier is an author, too, of titles including “Love, Mom,” which details stories about being a mother, and “Panic Attack: Playing Politics with Science in the Fight Against COVID-19.”

The radiologist has past leadership experience that includes advisory positions with the CDC, New Jersey Department of Health, and Radiological Society of New Jersey. She additionally is founder of Drop Rx, an herbal “nutraceutical company” she created after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and searching for alternative remedies. She resides in Far Hills, New Jersey, and has three sons with her husband, who is the founder of a neurosurgery practice, according to Politico. 

The American College of Radiology applauded Saphier's appointment in a statement issued Thursday. If confirmed, she would be the highest-ranking radiologist ever to serve the U.S. government, ACR noted. 

“Dr. Saphier is a tireless advocate for women’s health who has worked to increase access to lifesaving cancer screenings, enable earlier cancer detection and ultimately save countless lives,” ACR CEO Dana H. Smetherman, MD, MPH, MBA, said April 30.

This is Trump’s third nomination for surgeon general, with the first pick, Janette Nesheiwat, MD, also failing to pass in the Senate. The president pulled Means from consideration amid opposition from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., The Hill reported Thursday. 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a quote from the American College of Radiology.