Overton earned her medical degree in 2013 through a joint BA/MD program at the University of New Mexico that provided a comprehensive medical ethics education. She did her postgraduate training at Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a Ph.D. in clinical investigations.

While at Johns Hopkins, Overton worked with Trump’s first FDA commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, on various projects, including several peer-reviewed papers and articles regarding overprescribing opioids and other pharmaceuticals.

But some MAHA advocates have already begun to chafe at the idea of her being atop the massive regulatory agency that oversees a variety of their policy priorities, particularly changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, pesticide policy, and peptides.

When asked about conflicts between Overton and ardent MAHA supporters, White House spokesman Kush Desai told the Washington Examiner that Overton “has played an integral role in nearly every single MAHA policy victory by the Trump administration.”

“No one has worked harder to ensure that these historic policy changes are legally durable, medically correct, and grounded in Gold Standard Science than Dr. Overton,” Desai said.

Here are some of the key issues that are likely to strain her relationship with MAHA advocates should she be confirmed by the Senate.

Variable vaccine record

Overton has a mixed record on vaccine policy, which could weaken her support from MAHA advocates who support the administration’s efforts to decrease the number of vaccines that children receive.

Supporters of vaccines, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who would oversee her Senate confirmation, have criticized Overton for her role in Trump’s sweeping executive order last week to reduce the number of childhood vaccines from 18 to 11.

Overton said during the Oval Office signing ceremony that the move was intended to promulgate the recommendations already made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this year, but that have been thwarted in the courts on procedural grounds. She also said she supported breaking up the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, into separate shots so parents have more options on how to vaccinate their children.

But Overton has in the past been strongly supportive of vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines developed during the first Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed partnership with vaccine manufacturers at the height of the pandemic. 

Overton was a White House fellow for health policy innovation from 2019 through 2020. When she left the White House in 2021, she, as head of health policy at the America First Policy Institute, wrote a paper praising Operation Warp Speed as a model for pandemic preparedness.

Dr. Robert Malone, who is widely regarded as a vaccine skeptic, has, on multiple occasions, said that Overton is a “problem” standing in the way of vaccine reforms desired by ardent MAHA supporters.

Malone was selected by Kennedy to advise the CDC on vaccine policy in part because of his outspoken criticism of mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, but was eventually removed after clashing with other HHS staff.

In April, Malone said Overton and Makary were both responsible for withholding information about the adverse side effects of COVID-19 vaccines in children from the public. He also said in May that Overton, along with chief of staff Susie Wiles, “cherry-picked the polling response” on the Trump administration’s vaccine policies to stall further action until after the midterm elections.

Although Malone has not outright said he does not support Overton’s nomination since the announcement was made, he posted on X following rumors of her nomination that there is “no evidence of Overton publicly challenging the conventional childhood vaccine schedule” before 2025.

Getting guff on glyphosate

MAHA advocates have started to complain that Overton was too connected to the Trump administration’s decision to support makers of the pesticide glyphosate, the main chemical in Roundup that many activists blame for various chronic diseases in the United States.

Glyphosate has been a bugbear of wellness advocates for more than a decade, since the World Health Organization identified it as possibly carcinogenic to humans. The chemical is not only in household weed killers but is also used as a desiccant, or a chemical sprayed on grains to kill them before harvest.

Alex Clark, a MAHA influencer for the conservative group Turning Point USA, took to X after Overton’s nomination to criticize her role in crafting the president’s February executive order to boost domestic production of glyphosate and shield chemical companies from liability for health problems allegedly caused by their products.

The glyphosate executive order set off a deep divide between the MAHA coalition and the White House. The tension was exacerbated by the Trump administration’s decision to back Bayer, the maker of Roundup, in its Supreme Court challenge.

Clark accused Overton of writing the executive order, but a senior White House official told the Washington Examiner the order was authored by Trump’s national security advisory team. Overton was brought in after the initial draft to align it with MAHA priorities, the official said.

Kelly Ryerson, a MAHA and holistic farming advocate known by the pseudonym “Glyphosate Girl,” said on X Overton’s nomination marks a “very sad day for MAHA” and that her nomination represents “the steep fall into the depths of the swamp.”

Pessimistic about peptides or psychedelics

Overton would also have to wrangle with MAHA advocates on peptides, psychedelics, and marijuana legalization.

The Atlantic reported in July that multiple sources from within the Trump administration have said Overton is skeptical of MAHA’s embrace of heterodox pharmacologics, including peptides that are popular among wellness podcasters in Trump’s orbit.

The next FDA commissioner will have to decide what to do with a federal health advisory panel’s recommendation last month to ease access to several peptides, despite warnings from some FDA scientists about safety and efficacy concerns.

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Overton was also reportedly involved in scaling back Trump’s recent directive regarding using psychedelic drugs for mental health treatments for veterans suffering from PTSD, as well as delaying Trump’s order to loosen the drug classification for marijuana.

Chris Klomp, who Trump recently nominated to be deputy HHS secretary, told the Atlantic that Overton “wanted to make sure it was being done the right way.”