Susan Monarez, director of the nation's top public health agency, was terminated after less than one month for not aligning with the administration's agenda and refusing to resign. Her lawyers said she was targeted for standing up for science and reported she had neither resigned nor been told she was fired. Several senior CDC officials resigned, including deputy director Debra Houry; Daniel Jernigan, head of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Demetre Daskalakis, head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; and Jennifer Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology. Houry cited planned budget cuts, reorganization and firings as preventing her continued leadership.
Her lawyers responded with a statement saying Monarez had neither resigned nor been told she was fired. "When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted," attorneys Mark Zaid and Abbe David Lowell wrote in a statement. "This is not about one official. It is about the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts, and the dangerous politicization of science. The attack on Dr. Monarez is a warning to every American: our evidence-based systems are being undermined from within," they said.
Susan Monarez isn't "aligned with" President Donald Trump's agenda and refused to resign, so the White House terminated her, spokesman Kush Desai said Wednesday night.
"I am committed to protecting the public's health, but the ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency,"
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