The White House on Thursday selected Jim O’Neill, the deputy secretary of health and human services, to take over leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to multiple reports. It’s the latest move in a tense shakeup of the agency’s top ranks.
The news, first reported by The Washington Post, comes less than 24 hours after a clash over vaccine policy led to the ouster of CDC Director Susan Monarez — and the resignations of at least three other top officials.
The White House stepped in to fire Monarez on Wednesday after she refused Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s call to resign. She is contesting her firing.
“It was President Trump who was overwhelmingly reelected on November 5th. This woman has never received a vote in her life, and the president has the authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Thursday’s press briefing.
The White House did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ request for comment Thursday evening.
O’Neill, a Silicon Valley-based biotech investor, worked as principal associate deputy secretary of HHS during the George W. Bush administration, where he opposed expanding regulation by the Food and Drug Administration regarding hospital laboratory tests. Like Monarez, he is not a medical doctor.
He is also a former CEO of the Thiel Foundation, founded by Trump donor and investor Peter Thiel.
Following the news of Monarez’s firing on Wednesday, three senior CDC officials sent in their resignations, agency employees confirmed to NOTUS.
The three officials include Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science.
In a post to X announcing his resignation, Daskalakis said that Kennedy’s leadership was engaging in “radical non-transparency” and manipulating data.
“I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us,” he wrote. “Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources.”
Houry submitted her resignation in a letter to CDC employees reviewed by NOTUS. She wrote that “the ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency. This is a heartbreaking decision that I make with a heavy heart.”
Jernigan’s resignation letter also cites the leadership turmoil at the agency as his cause for leaving.
“Given the current context in the Department, I feel it is best for me to offer my resignation,” he wrote.