The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has named an interim director to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Jim O’Neill, currently a deputy HHS Secretary, was tapped by the Trump administration to fill the acting director role shortly after Susan Monarez, Ph.D., was fired from her position at the helm of the agency. Monarez is contesting the firing, though the White House has confirmed that she was removed.
An HHS official told Fierce Healthcare that O’Neill had been named to the interim role. The agency has not made a broader statement about O’Neill stepping in as acting director.
O’Neill has a history in Silicon Valley and was previously CEO of the Thiel Foundation. He also held leadership roles at the HHS during the Bush administration, according to a report from The Hill, but he does not have a medical or clinical background.
Monarez was sworn in as director at the CDC in June, and, while HHS has confirmed her ouster, the reasoning behind it has been murky. White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai said in a statement that she was “not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.”
The sudden firing has triggered turmoil at the agency and bipartisan concern about the decision. Multiple other leaders at the CDC have resigned after Monarez was fired, and a staff walkout was held Thursday.
When Monarez was nominated, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he “handpicked Susan for this job because she is a longtime champion of MAHA values.” However, in an interview Thursday, he described a “deeply, deeply embedded … malaise at the agency” that needed to be addressed.
“The agency is in trouble and we need to fix it—and we are fixing it, and it may be that some people should not be working there anymore,” RFK Jr. said.
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