Trump Administration Taps Doctor to Perform Surgeon General Duties

The Senate has not confirmed any of the president’s nominees for surgeon general during his second term.

Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos, in an undated file photograph. HHS via The Epoch Times

The Trump administration is promoting a doctor to assume some of the responsibilities of the surgeon general, as officials await action from the Senate on President Donald Trump’s latest surgeon general nominee, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on May 20.

Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Brian Christine is using his powers to delegate authority to Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos to enable her to start “carrying out many of the duties of the Surgeon General on behalf of the American people,” an HHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

Haridopolos will promote the Office of the Surgeon General’s public health actions, advisories, and guidance until the next surgeon general is sworn into office, the spokesperson said.

She is listed on the HHS website as the director of national health communications for the Office of the Surgeon General. Until May 20, she was listed as the office’s chief of staff and senior adviser, roles she still holds, according to HHS.

Haridopolos has already been featured in messages from the surgeon general’s office, including a May 8 statement on the eradication of smallpox.

Haridopolos was a family physician in Florida for 22 years before the Trump administration in 2025 asked her to serve in the office, she said during a January appearance on the podcast “13th & Park.”

“It’s a dream come true, and the capstone of my career,” she said.

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Trump, after winning the 2024 presidential election, picked Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to be surgeon general.

Before she appeared before the Senate Health Committee, a step typically taken before the committee votes on whether to advance health nominees to the full Senate, Trump withdrew the nomination.

He selected Dr. Casey Means, the sister of an HHS adviser, as a replacement. The Senate stalled on holding a confirmation hearing for Means, and after it was finally scheduled, it was postponed because Means was going into labor.

When the confirmation hearing took place in February, Means faced criticism from several Republicans and many Democrats on the panel.

The Senate Health Committee never held a vote on Means.

Nicole Saphier attends FOX Nation's 2024 Patriot Awards at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Greenvale, N.Y., on Dec. 5, 2024. Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Trump announced in April that he was withdrawing Means’s nomination and going with Dr. Nicole Saphier, a radiologist and contributor to Fox News.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chairman of the Senate Health Committee, who voted to confirm Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “stood in the way” of Means, according to Trump.

Cassidy’s office did not respond to requests for comment, including when his panel would hold a hearing with Saphier.

Cassidy lost in the Republican primary on May 16 in his bid for reelection. His two opponents said he was not supportive enough of Trump, and they highlighted that Cassidy, in 2021, voted to convict Trump in an impeachment trial.

The Senate Health Committee has not scheduled a hearing with Dr. Erica Schwartz, Trump’s latest nominee to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.