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U.S. senate confirms Susan Monarez as director of the CDC

Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building last Wednesday in Washington, D.C. (Tribune News Service )
By Jessica Nix Bloomberg Bloomberg

The U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, as the federal agency adjusts to widespread layoffs and cancellations of public health programs.

Susan Monarez will take the helm as director of the Atlanta-based CDC following a 51 -47 vote, after Republicans rallied behind the president’s pick. She was the acting director when Dave Weldon, Trump’s original choice, was abruptly pulled after members expressed concerns over his vaccine views.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Ph.D. in microbiology, she’s the first person without a medical degree to lead the nation’s premier public health agency since 1953.

Monarez, who joined the CDC in January, was the first proposed director to undergo Senate confirmation following a 2023 legal change. During the hearing, she sidestepped questions about layoffs and the elimination of programs, including those that track gun violence, smoking habits and chronic disease.

During Monarez’s tenure before her nomination, some employees recalled rarely hearing from her via all-staff emails or in meetings, according to people familiar with her management. The agency’s chief of staff, Matthew Buzzelli, took over the day-to-day operations after she was nominated for the director role.

The CDC is grappling with low morale after thousands of scientists, epidemiologists and health communications experts were fired or left following demands imposed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Since the COVID-19 pandemic eased, the agency has faced a nationwide measles outbreak – with infections rising to the highest levels in three decades – and the arrival of bird flu in humans, including the first U.S. death.

Monarez previously served in government positions under administrations from both parties. She was the deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health under President Joe Biden and deputy assistant secretary for strategy and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security during the first Trump administration.