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An ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has joined the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Calley Means, an entrepreneur and author, is now a senior adviser with HHS, a spokesperson for the department told The Epoch Times in an email on Nov. 19.
Means did not respond to requests for comment.
He was a special government employee earlier in President Donald Trump’s second term, helping Kennedy and other officials on health issues. Special government employees can retain outside interests but are limited to 130 days in their roles.
Means has been a vociferous advocate of Trump, Kennedy, and their efforts to reform the health care system, frequently posting on social media and appearing on Fox News and other broadcasters to promote them.
“[Kennedy and his team are] saying how do we transform this system fundamentally, to profit from hospital beds being empty instead of full; to profit when people go off pharma drugs, not keep taking them,” he said on Fox this month.
Means previously started Truemed, a company that helps people spend Health Savings Account funds on products such as fitness trackers.
“True health comes from consistent, smart choices—staying active, getting good sleep, and using the right supplements,” the company stated on its website. “We provide products that make it easier for you to live a healthier lifestyle, without the stress.”
Means said on his website: “My mission is to steer more healthcare dollars to incentivize metabolic habits at the root of disease (healthy food, exercise, sleep, stress management). This is where the rubber hits the road to change our current trajectory.”
He will be divesting from Truemed, the HHS spokesperson said. Truemed’s general counsel, Joe Vladeck, told The Epoch Times in an email that Means is no longer involved with the company.
Means also co-wrote a 2024 book called Good Energy with his sister, Dr. Casey Means.
Trump has nominated Casey Means to be the next surgeon general. She was slated to appear virtually before a Senate committee for a confirmation hearing on Oct. 30, but the hearing was postponed after she went into labor.
The new position for a Kennedy ally comes after turnover in the department, including the terminations of a different senior adviser, Dr. Steven Hatfill, and an HHS official who had been working with him, Gray Delaney.
Hatfill and Delaney have since blamed Stefanie Spear, Kennedy’s senior counselor, alleging that she would not let them speak out after Kennedy decided to cut funding for projects involving messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), a technology utilized in most COVID-19 vaccines.
“The media went unchallenged and began to spew a torrent of false narratives describing the Secretary as incompetent, public health was in danger, and that the mRNA ‘vaccines’ were safe, effective, and had saved millions of lives,” Hatfill said in a letter obtained by The Epoch Times.
Studies have estimated that COVID-19 vaccines prevented millions of deaths, including a paper published this year. Kennedy said during a Senate hearing that COVID-19 vaccines did prevent deaths, but it was not possible to know how many due to issues with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He also noted that the vaccines have caused deaths.
Kennedy took to X on Nov. 14 to defend Spear and Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff. He wrote that both Spear and he are former Democrats who “had a come-to-Jesus moment during the 2024 presidential campaign” when Kennedy was blocked from running for president as a Democrat.
“President Trump has no more committed loyalists than Stefanie Spear,” he said.
