CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez is being ousted just weeks into her tenure, sources say, and other officials follow
Dr. Susan Monarez was sworn in as director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 31.
By Sarah Owermohle, Adam Cancryn, Brenda Goodman, CNN
(CNN) — 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.
Her departure leaves the agency leaderless at a perilous time.
Morale, which was already low after deep staff cuts this spring, plummeted after a gunman opened fire on the agency’s 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.
The US Department of Health and Human Services said in a post on X on Wednesday, “Susan 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.”
The story was first reported by the Washington Post.
Shortly after her departure was confirmed Wednesday, three other top CDC officials also announced that they were leaving. Dr. Debra Houry, the agency’s 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.
Monarez’s ouster comes after days of internal pressure led by Kennedy’s deputy chief of staff and close confidante, Stefanie Spear, according to two people familiar with the situation.
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.
Monarez was President Donald Trump’s second pick to lead the CDC; the nomination of Dr. Dave Weldon was withdrawn in March after White House officials privately voiced concerns about his comments expressing skepticism about vaccines.
She was the first CDC director to be confirmed by the Senate, and her tenure was the shortest of any in the agency’s history.
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 not to have a clinical background.
Monarez’s 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.
In a news release the day of her swearing-in, Kennedy said that Monarez had “unimpeachable scientific credentials” and that he had full confidence in her ability to restore Americans’ trust in the agency.
“It is a great honor to join Secretary Kennedy and his HHS leadership team,” Monarez said in the news release. “I consider it a privilege to work alongside the public servants at CDC. Together we will strengthen and modernize the nation’s public health preparedness and response through science and innovation. We will work every day at CDC to Make America Healthy Again.”
Former CDC Principal Deputy Director Dr. Nirav Shah said Wednesday that Monarez’s ouster “is another example of the chaotic leadership we’ve seen under Secretary Kennedy, and in times of increasing public health threats, stable leadership matters.”
“The instability we’re seeing at CDC will not help making Americans healthy again.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
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