- calendar_today August 28, 2025
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Susan Monarez has been ousted as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just weeks after being confirmed by the Senate. It is the latest in a series of significant shakeups at the beleaguered public health agency.
The news was first reported by The Washington Post, which said it had been told by multiple officials within the Trump administration. After Ars Technica inquired with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the CDC, the agency referred to a post on its official X account. The statement there said:
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. @SecKennedy 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 X post did not explain the change in leadership. However, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—himself a high-profile anti-vaccine crusader—had been pressuring Monarez repeatedly over COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy reportedly demanded she reverse the CDC’s approval of the vaccines, but Monarez refused to do so without consulting the CDC’s vaccine advisory committees. He then told her to resign, accusing her of not supporting Trump’s political priorities.
Monarez refused to resign and instead reached out to Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La. ), who had been instrumental in getting Kennedy confirmed by the Senate earlier this year after extracting assurances from him. Cassidy spoke to Kennedy and pushed back on his requests. They engaged in an argument after which, the Post reported, Monarez was told by administration officials that she had to either resign or be fired.
Her attorneys, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowel, issued a statement on X declaring that Monarez has not resigned, has not been asked to do so, and has not received any official notice of her firing from the White House. “Her ouster came after she refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts,” the statement read. “She chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.” Zaid later confirmed to Ars Technica that, as of 8:15 p.m. ET on August 27, Monarez had not received any official termination notice.
CDC Continues to Spiral Out of Control
Monarez’s Senate confirmation in late July had been a breakthrough. Approved in a 51–47 vote on strict party lines, she was the first CDC director in history to be subject to Senate confirmation, which was mandated in 2022. Kennedy himself administered the oath of office on July 31 and congratulated her on her new role, praising her “impeccable scientific credentials” and expressing his confidence that she would help return the CDC to “a state of high credibility.”
Monarez had a solid and long résumé in public health. She earned a PhD in microbiology and immunology, having most recently served as deputy director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) under the Biden administration. Other jobs she has held include posts at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Department of Homeland Security, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Security Council. She briefly served as the CDC’s acting director earlier this year and stepped down when Trump nominated her for the role.
Many public health experts had welcomed her appointment. Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University said she was a “loyal, hardworking civil servant who leads with evidence and pragmatism.” Georges Benjamin, head of the American Public Health Association, said she was an “excellent researcher and manager.”
But her short stint as head of the CDC was marred by the broader chaos at the agency. Hundreds of staffers have been let go through layoffs and buyouts, while many programs have been reduced or otherwise affected. Kennedy himself has been a key source of controversy, having said that COVID-19 vaccines were “the deadliest vaccine ever made” and calling the CDC “a cesspool of corruption.”
Tragedy also struck at the CDC last week when a gunman who had been radicalized by vaccine misinformation opened fire at the agency’s campus on August 8. The shooter, who fired some 500 rounds, hit six CDC buildings with about 200 of them. One local police officer was killed, and other staff had to scramble for safety. He had blamed the vaccines for his own health problems and was clearly targeting the CDC.
The turmoil surrounding Monarez’s reported ouster has only compounded the agency’s challenges. Stat News separately confirmed the resignations of three high-ranking CDC officials: Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; the CDC’s Chief Medical Officer, Deb Houry; and Demetre Daskalakis, who ran the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
In his parting message, Daskalakis wrote: “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health.” Houry, in her farewell note, emphasized that science should “never be censored or subject to political interpretations.”
Earlier that same day, Politico reported that another official had also resigned, Jennifer Layden, who ran the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology.
The string of events has only accelerated what many inside and outside the CDC see as a freefall for an institution that had previously been considered a bedrock of evidence-based public health. The ongoing tumult comes as it faces numerous resignations, political pressure, and a crisis of confidence at a time when public health challenges abound.
