The Senate health committee hearing convenes Wednesday to review three of President Trump’s choices for top roles at the Department of Health and Human Services, including deputy secretary and surgeon general.
The surgeon general seat has proved elusive for the administration. A similar session seven months ago for Dr. Casey Means unraveled after her first hearing was postponed due to childbirth, then a contentious February appearance eroded support and the panel never voted.
Means was the second nominee. The first, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox News medical contributor, was dropped after questions emerged about her academic credentials. Senators will now consider a third nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Nicole Saphier, a radiologist.
Also before the panel is Chris Klomp, a former health tech executive who has overseen much of HHS’s daily operations since February and is nominated for deputy secretary. Klomp, who first joined the administration as director of the Center for Medicare, has gained a reputation as a pragmatic manager. Based on questioning in a separate Finance Committee confirmation session Tuesday, senators are expected to press him on measles, abortion medication, drug prices, and vaccines.
The third nominee is Dr. Timothy Westlake, an emergency medicine physician from Wisconsin, selected to serve as assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use.
Looming over the proceedings is Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Lawmakers have a strained relationship with him, noting promises he made at his confirmation that he has since walked back. His limited and often turbulent appearances before the committee could shape the day’s tone.
Senate health committee hearing and surgeon general nominees
Third time’s the charm?
The country has lacked a confirmed surgeon general since President Biden left office in January 2025, and none of Trump’s nominees has cleared the Senate this term.
Like Trump’s initial pick, Saphier previously contributed to Fox News and earned her medical degree from a Caribbean university. She is a radiologist and director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth in New Jersey.
Despite no formal public health background, Saphier has not faced the widespread opposition that dogged Means, and her reception among senators remains uncertain. Former Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, who served in Trump’s first term, said in May he expects her to be confirmed.
Kennedy praised Saphier’s nomination in April on social media, calling her “a long-time warrior for the MAHA movement.” She authored a 2020 book titled “Make America Healthy Again,” predating Kennedy’s use of the slogan during the 2024 campaign.
Vaccines are likely to be a flashpoint. Saphier has criticized COVID-19 booster mandates and questioned whether all newborns need the hepatitis B vaccine, comments that could draw scrutiny from Sen. Bill Cassidy, a hepatologist and the committee chair, who has spoken emotionally about patients who died of hepatitis B.
At other times, she has defended vaccines in response to the debunked autism link, faulting Kennedy for bringing on anti-vaccine activist David Geier to probe autism causes. “If we want lasting change in how we diagnose, treat and perhaps prevent autism, it must be built on a foundation of rigorous science, not controversy and conspiracy theories,” she wrote last spring.
She also told The Associated Press that Trump’s suggestion pregnant women avoid Tylenol due to autism concerns was oversimplistic and patronizing.
HHS number 2
The deputy secretary role, a powerful but less visible post, is also on the agenda.
Klomp would serve as second-in-command to Kennedy if confirmed. He has led Medicare since April 2025 and became Kennedy’s chief counselor in February.
Republicans on the Finance Committee were cordial during Tuesday’s hearing, focusing on drug costs and Medicaid fraud. Democrats pressed him on the federal response to ongoing measles outbreaks.
Despite doubts sown by Kennedy and Trump about MMR safety and efficacy, Klomp strongly endorsed MMR vaccination for children to curb measles spread.
Westlake currently serves as chief of staff at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, and is nominated to be assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. SAMHSA has seen significant staff reductions since Kennedy took over at HHS, and his restructuring plan, now paused due to legal challenges, would have eliminated the agency.
The federal response to ongoing measles outbreaks has raised concerns about public health readiness as measles and flu season loom.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides detailed information about MMR vaccination for children to help curb measles spread.
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