Trump Nominates Acting CDC Director to Lead Agency

Susan Monarez, PhD, is President Trump’s nominee to lead CDC. Her nomination was sent to the U.S. Senate on April 1. Monarez has been serving as the agency’s acting director since Jan. 23. She previously served as deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a funding agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) intended to support biomedical and health research “that cannot be readily accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity.” If confirmed, Monarez would be the first nonphysician to lead CDC in more than 50 years.

Before serving on ARPA-H, Monarez “led high-impact initiatives focusing on the ethical use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to support improved health outcomes, novel approaches to addressing affordability and accessibility in healthcare, expanding access to behavioral and mental health interventions, ending the opioid epidemic, addressing health disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality, and improving the country's organ donation and transplantation programs,” according to a biography on the CDC website.

Monarez has also served at the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy and on the National Security Council. She previously led initiatives related to health innovation research and development at the Department of Homeland Security.

Monarez’s nomination comes at the same time as major cuts to the HHS workforce, including approximately 2,200 CDC staff. More information about how these cuts will affect NIOSH and other agencies in HHS is available from AIHA.