Senate Confirms New CDC Director

On July 29, the current acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since January, Susan Monarez, was confirmed by the Senate to lead the agency permanently. She was tapped as the nominee in March after Trump abruptly withdrew his first choice, David Weldon, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

Monarez is the first to serve in the role without a medical degree in more than 70 years, NPR’s Pien Huang reported on July 29. “The vote was 51-47, along party lines.” “Monarez takes over an agency in chaos, according to employees who have spoken to NPR,” Huang wrote. “Thousands of workers have left in recent months, and support for many programs has been cut.”  Furthermore, President Trump has proposed slashing the CDC's funding for the fiscal year 2026.

“At her confirmation hearing, Monarez said she values vaccines and rigorous scientific evidence, but she largely dodged questions about her dealings with Kennedy, an antivaccine activist who has sought to dismantle some of the agency’s previous protocols and decisions,” AP News noted.

Newsweek's Gabe Whisnant and Adeola Adeosun previously wrote that Monarez has held several positions within the U.S. government. She served as deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and has also held roles in the Department of Homeland Security and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Monarez is the first CDC director to require Senate confirmation following a law change in 2023.