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<\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n \n Dr. Susan Monarez, who was sworn in as director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 31, is being ousted, according to three sources familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they were not authorized to share the information.\n <\/p>\n \n Her departure leaves the agency leaderless at a perilous time.\n <\/p>\n \n Morale, which was already low after deep staff cuts this spring, plummeted after a gunman opened fire on the agency\u2019s main campus in Atlanta on August 8, pocking the buildings with hundreds of bullet holes and killing DeKalb County police officer David Rose. Shortly afterward, a further 600 employees got official termination notices.\n <\/p>\n \n The US Department of Health and Human Services said in a post<\/a> on X on Wednesday, \u201cSusan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people. [HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] has full confidence in his team at @CDCgov who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The story was first reported by the Washington Post.\n <\/p>\n \n Shortly after her departure was confirmed Wednesday, three other top CDC officials also announced that they were leaving. Dr. Debra Houry, the agency\u2019s chief medical officer; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; and Dr. Dan Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, were agency veterans whom staffers said were well-liked and trusted.\n <\/p>\n \n Monarez\u2019s ouster comes after days of internal pressure led by Kennedy\u2019s deputy chief of staff and close confidante, Stefanie Spear, according to two people familiar with the situation.\n <\/p>\n \n The health agency is readying to announce a new slate of appointees to its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in the coming weeks, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity. Kennedy dissolved the panel of independent vaccine advisers in June and days later named eight new members, many of whom have cast doubt on the safety of vaccines and public policy around vaccination. One member later dropped out during the required financial review.\n <\/p>\n \n Monarez was President Donald Trump\u2019s second pick to lead the CDC; the nomination<\/a> of Dr. Dave Weldon was withdrawn in March after White House officials privately voiced concerns about his comments expressing skepticism about vaccines.\n <\/p>\n \n She was the first CDC director to be confirmed by the Senate, and her tenure was the shortest of any<\/a> in the agency\u2019s history.\n <\/p>\n \n Monarez was principal deputy director and acting director at the CDC from January to March. She has a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology but is not a medical doctor, making her the first CDC director since the 1950s<\/a> not to have a clinical background.\n <\/p>\n \n Monarez\u2019s tenure in government spans Republican and Democratic administrations. Before coming to the CDC, she was deputy director for the Advance Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, and was founding director of the Center for Innovation at the Health Resources and Services Administration. She held other leadership positions at the Department of Homeland Security and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.\n <\/p>\n
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