Trump’s Surgeon General Nominee to Divest Family Tobacco, Tech Holdings

(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump nominated Casey Means four months ago for US surgeon general, a post that still remains open. Now Means, a Stanford University-trained physician and wellness influencer who focuses on functional medicine, is disclosing “steps that I will take to avoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest.”

In an ethics agreement posted Sept. 13, she said she would divest family holdings that include shares in technology companies and Philip Morris International Inc. and Altria Group Inc., two of the world’s largest tobacco companies. The other companies include Baidu Inc., a leading Chinese technology company, and Chevron Corp.

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The shares belong to Means’ husband, according to her financial disclosures. The shares were purchased before Means and her husband were married, according to a spokesperson from the US Department of Health and Human Services. The investments were part of a diversified portfolio designed by an outside financial adviser, the spokesperson said. Means acknowledged in the ethics agreement that the interests of her spouse are imputed to her.

She also said she would divest her equity in health startups. She will resign from her position as an adviser to Levels Health Inc., a technology startup she co-founded that helps users track glucose monitoring data. She said she will divest from Levels as well as the health company her brother Calley Means co-founded, True Medicine Inc., and the testing company Function Health Inc.

Casey Means, who has focused on entrepreneurial endeavors and wrote a book after dropping out of her surgical residency, has never owned individual, publicly traded stocks, a person familiar with the matter who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly said. She does own equity in the three closely held companies, the person said.

Her disclosures show fees from corporate sponsorships and partnerships, including from Amazon.com Inc. and numerous small companies in the wellness space.

Means had employment income of at least $1.2 million over roughly the last 18 months, the filing shows. Nominees use broad ranges for the value of their assets and some types of income. Royalties from her book, , were worth between $100,000 and $1 million.

Her nomination hasn’t been taken up yet in the Senate, though she is expected to meet with lawmakers this week, according to other people familiar with the discussions who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.