Trump nominates Susan Monarez for CDC director, elevating from acting role
President Trump has decided to pick Susan Monarez to be the new nominee to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making permanent the acting role she has served at the public health agency in recent months.
Monarez would be named in place of Dr. David Weldon, a former Florida congressman whose nomination was withdrawn by the White House earlier this month over concerns that he didn't have the votes to clear the Senate confirmation process.
"As an incredible mother and dedicated public servant, Dr. Monarez understands the importance of protecting our children, our communities, and our future. Americans have lost confidence in the CDC due to political bias and disastrous mismanagement," the president posted on Truth Social, announcing the pick Monday afternoon.
Monarez apparently beat out others who had been seen as contenders for the role, including former obstetrician-gynecologist and Texas congressman Michael Burgess. Weldon had also floated Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo for the role, calling for him to be at the top of Mr. Trump's list to replace him as the nominee.
If confirmed, Monarez would be the first head of the CDC to be voted on by senators, under a change passed by Congress in 2022. Previous directors of the agency were able to take the reins soon after they were picked by the president, without undergoing the confirmation process.
Monarez, who was previously deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, has been serving as the CDC's acting head since January.
She has been viewed as an unconventional pick for the role because previous interim directors have come from within the CDC's career ranks.
Past directors in recent history have also been medical doctors, while Monarez has a PhD. An acting director in the 1980s and 90s was also not a medical doctor, though he was a longtime career CDC official.
According to one federal health official, White House officials have said they are trying to "get it right" with their new pick. Another federal official said that Monarez had gotten along well with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, since taking on the role.
Monarez and her aides at the agency were in Washington, D.C., last week for meetings, one federal health official said.
"CDC needs reform. That's why I launched a Senate Republican CDC working group. I look forward to meeting Dr. Susan Monarez and learning more about her vision for the agency," Senator Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate's health committee, said in a statement.
People familiar with Weldon's meetings on Capitol Hill said Republicans had been frustrated with a lack of detailed priorities or familiarity with the agency's workings, as well as an unwillingness to assusage concerns that he would be perceived as anti-vaccine.
Nominees to lead the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are expected to be confirmed soon, after hearings in recent weeks.
Monarez is likely to face questions over the role she's played in controversial decisions at the agency in recent months, including undermining the independence of the CDC's flagship medical research publication, abruptly delaying a meeting of the outside vaccine advisers and plans to research whether vaccines cause autism — long after its scientists had debunked the claims.
A range of health threats are now facing the CDC, including a rise in measles cases driven by a record outbreak among undervaccinated communities in Texas and neighboring states.
Like other nominees, Monarez will face questions over whether she agrees with condemnation by health experts of Kennedy's responses to the outbreak, like remarks downplaying the virus and inflating the risks posed by the measles vaccine. Kennedy has also faced criticism over his comments about how to handle other viruses, like the growing bird flu outbreak.
Monarez has also been involved in decisions over steep cuts to the agency's workforce expected in the coming days, which some managers expect could result in losing up to 30% of the CDC's staff.
