SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a new California-led public health initiative, tapping what he called a “dream team” of former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials who publicly clashed with the Trump administration.
Newsom said the initiative will be led by Dr. Susan Monarez, the former CDC director, and Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer. The pair will lead the Public Health Network Innovation Exchange, or PHNIX, which the governor’s office said will “modernize public health infrastructure and maintain trust in science-driven decision-making.”
The initiative was created to improve the systems that detect and investigate public health trends and build a modern public-health backbone that connects data, technology and funding across states. The state is putting $4 million toward the initiative, which Newsom said was allocated in the most recently signed budget in June “in anticipation of this opportunity.”
“We see this assault on science and truth and trust, where we’re seeing scientific inquiry being attacked, we’re seeing the CDC itself kneecapped by this administration,” Newsom said Monday, adding that there have been mass firings at the federal health agency. “We also felt we needed to do more than just play defense. We needed to get on the offense.”
Monarez will serve as strategic health technology and funding advisor for the initiative, helping advance private sector partnerships to better integrate healthcare data systems and enable faster disease surveillance.
Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for the consultant contracts for the new hires and did not provide details on how much each would be paid. The hirings were first reported by the New York Times.
Monarez said “California is leading the way” and will “no longer sit on the sidelines and hope for a better future.”
“California is investing in innovating now to build the public health systems that will protect lives, strengthen communities and create a future in which all Californians can thrive,” she said.
Houry was named senior regional and global public health medical advisor for PHNIX. Newsom’s office also announced that it will work with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, founder and chief executive of Your Local Epidemiologist. Jetelina will advise the California Department of Public Health on building trust in public health.
Monarez and Houry both described extraordinary turmoil inside the nation’s health agencies during congressional hearings, telling senators in September that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and political advisors rebuffed data supporting the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Monarez was fired after just 29 days on the job. She said Kennedy told her to resign if she did not sign off on new unsupported vaccine recommendations. Kennedy has described Monarez as admitting to him that she is “untrustworthy,” a claim Monarez has denied through her attorney.
“We already leverage the deep public health and scientific expertise within our state and local health departments and across our state to protect and promote healthy communities, and now, during this current uncertainty and instability in our federal health landscape, it is more important than ever for us to strengthen our partnerships with others around the nation and the globe,” said Dr. Erica Pan, CDPH director and state public health officer.
Newsom’s office said the California initiative would build on previously announced public health partnerships, such as the West Coast Health Alliance.