(WASHINGTON) — The Senate confirmed Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Monarez was confirmed by a vote of 51-47 along party lines on Tuesday evening. Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) were absent.
She is the first CDC director nominee who required Senate confirmation after Congress passed a law requiring it in 2022.
Monarez holds a PhD, but she is the first CDC director without a medical degree since 1953.
In a post on X, the CDC wrote a congratulatory message to Monarez, saying that she “brings decades of distinguished experience in health innovation, disaster preparedness, global health, and biosecurity to [the CDC].”
“Dr. Monarez will lead [the CDC’s] efforts to prevent disease and respond to domestic and global health threats” and advancing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “mission to Make America Healthy Again.”
Here’s what to know about Monarez:
According to her biography on the CDC website, Monarez worked on initiatives including the ethical use of artificial intelligence, addressing disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality and improving the national organ donation and transplantation programs.
Monarez also worked in the public sector under former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as during Trump’s first term. That work included strategies to combat antimicrobial resistance.
Prior to the CDC, Monarez worked in the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, a federal research funding agency that focuses on biomedical and health breakthroughs. In January 2023, she was appointed deputy director of the agency.
Monarez was named acting CDC director in January, stepping down after she was nominated for the permanent position in March. It came after President Donald Trump’s first pick, Dr. David Weldon, had his nomination pulled by the White House due to a lack of votes.
Weldon was expected to be grilled on his past comments questioning vaccine safety, such as falsely suggesting vaccines are linked to autism.
During her confirmation hearing last month, Monarez expressed support for vaccines, in contrast with Kennedy, who has expressed some skepticism.
When questioned on the discredited theory that childhood vaccinations are linked to autism, Monarez stated that she has “not seen a causal link between vaccines and autism.”
In a statement, Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC, responded to Monarez’s confirmation, expressing concern over “attacks” on the agency from the administration.
“These attacks have already had major consequences, from exacerbating the worst outbreak of measles to hit our country in a generation to cutting billions of dollars in funding to state and local health departments,” he said in a statement.
Besser noted that Monarez “must fight” for the CDC, in addition to leading it.
“Our nation’s entire public health system depends on CDC having the tools it needs to respond to pandemics, reduce chronic disease, and address health inequities that continue to leave too many communities behind,” the statement continued. “That starts with a director willing to speak the truth, defend science, and stand up for the health of every American.”
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