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Susan Monarez was forced out as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) less than a month after her Senate confirmation, in the latest sign of turmoil at the beleaguered public health agency.

The news of her departure first appeared in a Washington Post report citing multiple officials in the Trump administration. When contacted by Ars Technica, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) deferred to a post on its official X account that read in part:

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 post did not explain the reasons for the leadership change, but according to The Washington Post, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—an outspoken vaccine opponent—had been pressuring Monarez for her approach to COVID-19 vaccines.

Kennedy had asked Monarez to reverse the agency’s approval of the vaccines, but she refused to do so without going through the CDC’s vaccine advisory committees first. Kennedy then asked her to resign and accused her of not supporting President Trump’s agenda.

Monarez did not resign, however. Instead, she reached out to Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La. ), who had been instrumental in Kennedy’s own Senate confirmation in early August after he received certain assurances from the secretary. This led to a tense exchange in which Cassidy challenged Kennedy’s directive, in he then said Monarez either had to resign or be terminated.

Her lawyers, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, shared a statement on social media that said Monarez had not resigned and that the White House had not given her official notification of a decision to remove her. “Her ouster came after she refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts,” the statement continued. “She chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.” Zaid later confirmed to Ars Technica that Monarez had not received official notification as of 8:15 p.m. ET on August 27.

CDC Reeling from Deep Challenges, New Leader’s Demise

Monarez’s Senate confirmation at the end of July was a surprise development. She was confirmed by a 51–47 vote along party lines and was the first CDC director in history to go through Senate confirmation, after a law passed in 2022 required all new appointees to be confirmed by the chamber. Kennedy swore her into office in a small ceremony on July 31 and praised her “unimpeachable scientific credentials.”

Monarez herself is highly experienced. She has a PhD in microbiology and immunology, having served as deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in the Biden administration. In her previous role at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), she was credited with helping to develop COVID-19 vaccines. She had also worked at the Department of Homeland Security, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Security Council. Before Kennedy, Monarez briefly served as the acting CDC director in early 2023 before Kennedy was confirmed.

Scientists and public health experts had welcomed her confirmation. Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University said she was a “loyal, hardworking civil servant who leads with evidence and pragmatism.” Georges Benjamin, director of the American Public Health Association, said she is “a strong researcher who has served in several public health and biomedical research roles, and has management experience and a deep understanding of federal agencies.”

Monarez’s departure comes as the CDC is experiencing severe dysfunction. The agency has lost several hundred staffers in layoffs and buyouts, and hundreds of programs have been eliminated or cut back. Kennedy has also contributed to the toxic culture, attacking COVID-19 vaccines as “the deadliest vaccine ever made” and calling the CDC “a cesspool of corruption.”

On August 8, a mass shooting on the CDC campus left the agency in mourning. A local man radicalized by vaccine misinformation fired into the complex with an AR-15, firing nearly 500 rounds and striking six CDC buildings. One local police officer was killed, and many staff on the CDC campus were traumatized as they ran to safety. The shooter’s online manifesto indicated that he held several grievances, including blaming vaccines for his own health conditions, and targeted the CDC.

Monarez’s reported ouster has deepened the dysfunction at the agency. Stat News reported three other high-level officials have also resigned: Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; CDC’s Chief Medical Officer Deb Houry; and Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

In a message to colleagues, Daskalakis wrote, “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health.” Houry’s message said that “science can never be censored or subject to political interpretations.”

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Politico also reported earlier on the day of the mass shooting that Jennifer Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, had resigned.

The news of these officials’ resignations comes at a moment when the CDC has lost much of its credibility in public health. Once held as a gold standard of science-based information, it now faces resignations of multiple top officials, increasing politicization, and a loss of public confidence at a time when public health threats abound.