Trump's Third Surgeon General Pick, Dr. Nicole Saphier, Faces Senate Grilling Over Vaccines and Financial Holdings

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is holding a confirmation hearing Wednesday, September 16, for two top Department of Health and Human Services nominees, Dr. Nicole Saphier and Dr. Timothy Westlake. The headliner is Saphier, President Trump's third attempt at filling the surgeon general job, according to the Associated Press.

America has gone without a Senate-confirmed surgeon general since President Biden left office in January 2025, according to NPR. Two nominees have already failed.

Trump's first pick, Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, was pulled after questions surfaced about her academic credentials, per NPR and the AP. His second pick, entrepreneur and wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means, saw her nomination collapse after a contentious February hearing over her vaccine views and background. The committee never even held a vote, NPR reports.

Now it's Saphier's turn. She's a radiologist and director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth in New Jersey, with a medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados and fellowships at the Mayo Clinic, according to her institutional profile cited by the AP. Like Nesheiwat, she's a former Fox News Channel contributor.

The vaccine question won't go away

Like Means, Saphier has questioned whether every newborn needs the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, a decades-old recommendation the Trump administration has pushed to weaken, the AP reports. That puts her in line with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who called her nomination that of "a long-time warrior for the MAHA movement" in an April social media post, according to Iowa Public Radio.

But Saphier isn't a rubber stamp for the administration on everything. She told the AP last fall that Trump's warnings to pregnant women about Tylenol use were oversimplified and "patronizing." Senators will likely use this as evidence to gauge whether she'll push back on questionable science or align with the White House.

Measles outbreaks are currently worrying the medical community nationwide, and lawmakers from both parties have criticized Kennedy's efforts to scale back vaccine guidance, the AP reports. Expect senators to press Saphier on whether she'll advocate more forcefully for vaccination than her boss has.

The financial disclosure raises fair questions

Saphier's ethics filing, dated September 7, shows holdings in healthcare and insurance firms alongside processed food companies including Coca-Cola, Yum Brands, and Hershey, plus cigarette maker Philip Morris, according to the AP. She also reported more than $200,000 in business income from a supplement company she owns, a sector with light federal regulation.

A surgeon general is the nation's top public health communicator. Financial ties to tobacco and sugar-heavy food brands, even fully disclosed and legal, invite scrutiny about whose interests get protected when she opens her mouth. No source here alleges any actual wrongdoing or violation, and disclosure is exactly what federal ethics rules require. Senators are free to ask her directly how she'd handle potential conflicts between her financial interests and her public health role.

CNN's coverage frames Saphier primarily as a "social media influencer turned surgeon general," pointing to her hundreds of thousands of podcast and social media followers. The surgeon general role, as the AP notes, carries limited actual policymaking power. It's a communications job with a loud microphone, not a regulatory one.

A third nominee, a separate hearing

Chris Klomp, nominated for HHS deputy secretary, has been running much of the department's day-to-day operations since February, according to NPR. He appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, a separate hearing from Wednesday's HELP Committee session, and is expected to face questions on measles response, abortion medication, drug prices and vaccine policy.

Dr. Timothy Westlake, a Wisconsin emergency medicine physician nominated for assistant secretary of Mental Health and Substance Use, joins Saphier on Wednesday's HELP Committee panel.

Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general during Trump's first term, told NPR in May he expects Saphier to be confirmed. Whether that holds depends on how she answers questions on vaccines and her portfolio, questions the committee has already burned through two nominees trying to resolve.