Senate Confirms Susan Monarez as C.D.C. Director

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Politics|Senate Confirms Susan Monarez as C.D.C. Director

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/us/politics/susan-monarez-cdc-director.html

Dr. Monarez, who has been the acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since President Trump took office, was the president’s second pick for the job.

Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

Chris Cameron

July 29, 2025Updated 8:27 p.m. ET

Senate Republicans confirmed Susan Monarez, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a supporter of Covid vaccines, as the permanent leader of the agency, cementing President Trump’s second pick for the job after he withdrew his first nominee just hours before his confirmation hearing earlier this year.

Dr. Monarez, an infectious-disease researcher, is the first nonphysician to lead the C.D.C. in more than 50 years. Her confirmation, in a 51-to-47 party-line vote in the Senate, comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, has overseen aggressive cuts to the agencymany of which were later reversed — and after he gutted an influential committee that recommends which vaccines Americans should get.

Dr. Monarez, 50, assumed the acting director position a few days after Mr. Trump took office in January, leaving her perch as deputy director of a new federal biomedical research agency created during the Biden administration.

Dr. Monarez was expected to serve until Mr. Trump’s first choice for the job, Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Republican congressman, could be confirmed. But after Mr. Trump decided to withdraw the nomination, Republican aides in the Senate said that Dr. Weldon had failed to impress them with a plan for the agency.

Dr. Weldon blamed two Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — for turning against him.

Some experts said Dr. Monarez was a sharp contrast to Dr. Weldon, whose skeptical views on childhood vaccines aligned with those of Mr. Kennedy and raised alarm in the medical community. Dr. Monarez, in contrast, is a biosecurity expert who endorsed the Covid vaccines, and her selection was seen as signaling a growing impatience with anti-vaccine sentiment.

In her time as acting director, subordinates have been interpreting the president’s executive orders and various court instructions with little input from Dr. Monarez, according to several C.D.C. employees who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Her office has also served as a conduit for directives from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services.

For example, she has worked with the cost-cutting initiative known as the Department of Government Efficiency to plan cuts to the agency, according to a former official with knowledge of the matter.

And when the Trump administration ordered the C.D.C. to take down pages from its website containing phrases like “L.G.B.T.Q.” and “transgender,” Dr. Monarez did not resist or try to preserve important data, according to three people with knowledge of the events, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Dr. Richard E. Besser, the chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a former acting director of the C.D.C., said in a statement that Dr. Monarez was taking over at a moment of “profound challenge” for the agency.

“Dr. Monarez must not only lead the C.D.C. — she must fight for it,” he said. “Our nation’s entire public health system depends on C.D.C. having the tools it needs to respond to pandemics, reduce chronic disease and address health inequities that continue to leave too many communities behind. That starts with a director willing to speak the truth, defend science and stand up for the health of every American.”

Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.

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