A close ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reportedly been selected as a White House advisor on food policy to aid in the administration’s goal of addressing chronic disease. 

Health influencer and entrepreneur Calley Means has been tapped as a “special government employee,” a temporary worker designation that cuts down on the administrative hurdles in the hiring process. 

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Means’s reported role, people familiar with the decision told Bloomberg, will focus on the influence of corporations on health and policy as well as assisting with the Make America Healthy Again Commission that President Donald Trump created last month via executive order. 

Means did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment at the time of initial publication. 

Means was formerly a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical and food industries, but he has denounced the industry as contributing to the chronic disease epidemic in the U.S. 

Originally a staunch “Never Trumper,” Means grew close with Kennedy in the spring of 2024 during the former Democrat’s failed independent presidential campaign. Means was reportedly instrumental in facilitating talks between Kennedy and Trump to build the MAHA coalition of the Republican party. 

Means and his sister, Stanford-trained surgeon Dr. Casey Means, grew in more public notoriety when they both appeared on the Tucker Carlson Show in August. The interview has been watched nearly 3.7 million times on YouTube.

In 2011, Means founded the wellness company TrueMed, which allows customers to use tax-advantaged health savings accounts to buy health and fitness products and memberships. 

Means and his TrueMed cofounder, Justin Mares, are both part of the End Chronic Disease Coalition, a federal and state food policy advocacy group. The coalition includes Crossfit CEO Don Faul and fitness guru Jillian Michaels.

Adding Means to Trump’s inner circle the MAHA Commission could have substantial effects on the trajectory of food policy.

Kennedy, in his role at HHS, has a smaller role in food policy than Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, whose office oversees the administration of the federal food stamps and school lunch programs.

But Means, as a special government employee, could influence the president to make sweeping changes. Elon Musk, a tech billionaire and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, has the same official designation as a special government employee, and the title has allowed him to have substantial sway over the federal bureaucracy.

Kennedy was tasked by Trump in February to lead the MAHA Commission, which is to issue a national strategy by August to tackle childhood chronic diseases, ranging from mental health disorders to obesity.

Kennedy and Rollins both will also this year issue an updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans report, a document that sets the rules for all federal food programs for the next five years. 

The White House and HHS did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment at the time of initial publication.