Saphier Faces Senate Test as Trump's Third Surgeon General Pick

Dr. Nicole Saphier, President Donald Trump's third choice to become the nation's surgeon general, will appear before the Senate health committee on Wednesday as the administration makes another attempt to fill the post.

Saphier is a radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor. Her nomination follows the withdrawal of Trump's first pick, Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, whose academic credentials drew questions, and the stalled candidacy of entrepreneur and wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means, whose background and vaccine views slowed her path in the Senate.

The surgeon general role carries limited policymaking authority but provides a prominent platform as the country's leading voice on public health matters.

Saphier serves as director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, according to the institution's website. She holds a doctor of medicine degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados and completed fellowships at the Mayo Clinic.

Like Means, a close ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Saphier has raised questions about whether every child should receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, a long-standing recommendation the administration has sought to weaken. She has also broken with Trump and Kennedy on some issues, describing the president's cautions to pregnant women about Tylenol as oversimplistic and "patronizing" in comments last fall.

Her latest ethics filing, dated Sept. 7, lists holdings in healthcare and insurance firms as well as processed food companies including Coca-Cola, Yum Brands, the Hershey Co. and cigarette maker Philip Morris. Kennedy has long criticized pharmaceutical and insurance companies over alleged corruption and has blamed ultraprocessed foods for the country's chronic disease burden.

Saphier also owns DropRx, a firm producing unregulated tinctures marketed for focus and calm. The products contain ingredients such as kava kava root, which the FDA has described as potentially causing severe liver injury. Her filing states she would resign from DropRx and Empower MD LLC, which owns the company, if confirmed, and would partially or fully divest from holdings posing a conflict.

Senators are expected to press Saphier on whether she would advocate more forcefully for vaccination, particularly as measles outbreaks concern the medical community and lawmakers from both parties have criticized Kennedy's stances.

Also appearing before the committee Wednesday are Chris Klomp, chief counselor at the Health and Human Services Department and nominee for Kennedy's second-in-command, and Timothy Westlake, chief of staff at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, who is seeking confirmation as assistant secretary for mental health and substance use.