Jim O'Neill has been appointed acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while continuing to serve as deputy at HHS. The CDC has experienced firings, resignations and disputes tied to efforts to change vaccine policies under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Susan Monarez, the short-tenured CDC director, left after refusing to comply with directives described by her lawyers as unscientific. O'Neill lacks medical or health-care training and holds humanities degrees. He previously worked at HHS under George W. Bush and has ties to Peter Thiel through various investment and project roles.
Monarez's lawyers said she refused "to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts." O'Neill takes over as acting director of an agency that has been rocked by firings, resignations and efforts by Kennedy to reshape the nation's vaccine policies to match his long-standing suspicions about the safety and effectiveness of long-established shots.
A former associate of billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, O'Neill previously helped run one of Thiel's investment funds and later managed several of his other projects. Those included a nonprofit working to develop manmade islands that would float outside U.S. territory, allowing them to experiment with new forms of government.
He has no training in medicine or health care and holds bachelor's and master's degrees in humanities. A Washington insider on a team of outsiders O'Neill has kept a markedly lower profile than Trump's other top health officials, who all joined the administration as Washington outsiders. He's also the only one with experience working at HHS, where he served for six years under President George W. Bush.
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