Questions have surfaced recently over the background and credentials of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, whom President Donald Trump initially tapped to serve as the next U.S. surgeon general.

Nesheiwat's nomination has apparently now been withdrawn by Trump, and she will instead serve the administration in "another capacity" at the Department of Health and Human Services, Bloomberg News reported.

As for Nesheiwat's replacement as the Surgeon General nominee, Trump has now picked Dr. Casey Means to fill that role. Means is the sister of Calley Means, a top advisor to and ally of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Trump names new nominee to be surgeon general

In a Wednesday afternoon Truth Social post, President Trump wrote, "I am pleased to announce that Dr. Casey Means, will be nominated as our next Surgeon General of the United States of America."

"Casey has impeccable 'MAHA' credentials," he said of the Make America Healthy Again agenda, "and will work closely with our wonderful Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to ensure a successful implementation of our Agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans."

"Her academic achievements, together with her life’s work, are absolutely outstanding," the president continued. "Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History. Congratulations to Casey!"

Trump added, "Secretary Kennedy looks forward to working with Dr. Janette Nesheiwat in another capacity at HHS. Thank you for your attention to this matter."

Medical malpractice lawsuit, promotion of DEI policies, and vaccine advocacy

It was on President Trump's first day in office that he announced a slew of sub-cabinet appointments that included Dr. Nesheiwat to serve as both the U.S. surgeon general and the medical director of the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service, and per Bloomberg, she was scheduled to sit for her Senate confirmation hearings this week.

It is unclear why Trump decided to withdraw Nesheiwat's nomination, as he provided no explanation, but Mediaite reported that right-wing independent journalist Laura Loomer has claimed credit for exposing alleged problems with the nominee that were seemingly missed in the vetting process.

In a Sunday afternoon X post, Loomer highlighted the fact that Nesheiwat was currently involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit that was filed in New York in 2021 over alleged mistakes she made in diagnosing and treating a patient in 2019, as well as her alleged promotion of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" policies at the City MD hospital system she worked for.

In a follow-up post later that evening, Loomer called for Nesheiwat to be replaced as the surgeon general nominee over her prior advocacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Questions raised about Nesheiwat's claimed credentials

While it is certainly possible that Loomer's posts led to the withdrawal of Dr. Nesheiwat's nomination, her purported exposé of the nominee came several days after CBS News had first revealed a significant issue with Nesheiwat's claimed credentials that may have precipitated the decision to replace her with another nominee.

Nesheiwat claims to be a double board-certified physician with a degree earned from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, and while records show that she did complete her residency at that school, she actually obtained her degree from the far less prestigious American University of the Caribbean (AUC) School of Medicine on the Dutch-Caribbean island of St. Maarten.

Questions have also been raised about her double board-certified claims, as records in New York show that she is only certified in family medicine and has not received a certification in any other specialties, as well as her purported but unconfirmed role as a "medical director" for the City MD system in New York and New Jersey.