Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told senators Wednesday that she values vaccines, public health interventions and rigorous scientific evidence, but largely sidestepped questions about widespread cuts to the agency, elimination of programs and whether she disagreed with any of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s actions to date.
“The secretary is doing the important work of leading a complex agency,” Monarez told members of a Senate health committee that will decide whether to advance her nomination.
Monarez, 50, is the first nominee for CDC director to require Senate confirmation. She was named acting director in January and the nominee for the post in March after Trump abruptly withdrew his first choice, David Weldon. Monarez is the former director of a federal biomedical research agency and a respected scientist, though she would be the first nonphysician to lead the CDC in decades.
Monarez repeatedly said she had not been involved in decisions earlier this year to cut hundreds of staff and eliminate CDC programs, but that she would work to retain the agency’s core functions and transition key programs to other parts of the Health and Human Services department.
Her answers appeared to frustrate some senators, including Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine, who said he had no questions about her qualifications.
“I’ve got questions about your willingness to follow through on your values,” he said.
In the two-hour hearing, Monarez was sharply questioned about Kennedy’s recent move to fire all 17 members of a crucial committee that evaluates and recommends vaccines, his downplaying of the risks of measles during a nationwide outbreak and staffing cuts to a program that investigates lead poisoning in children.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who is chairman of the committee, sought assurances about the scientific integrity of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which was reconstituted by Kennedy to include vaccine skeptics.
“Someone can speak as a critic, but there should be someone who’s reviewing the overwhelming evidence of the safety of vaccines,” Cassidy said.
Monarez said she strongly supported public health interventions, including immunizations, saying, “I think vaccines save lives.”
“The ACIP has a very vital role to play,” she added. “And it must make sure that it is using science and evidence to drive that decision-making.”
She vowed to prioritize innovation, “evidence-based rapid decision-making” and clear communication at the $9.2 billion agency tasked with evaluating vaccines, monitoring diseases and watching for threats to Americans’ health.
Monarez declined to say whether she had disagreed with any of Kennedy’s decisions regarding the agency to date, saying he has “laid out a very clear vision.”
“I think he has prioritized key public health activities for preventing chronic diseases,” she added.
If Monarez is confirmed, it would end a stretch of confusion at the Atlanta-based CDC, where, for months, it wasn’t clear who was running the agency. The acting director’s role was filled in part by Matthew Buzzelli, the CDC’s chief of staff who is a lawyer and political appointee with no medical experience.
Monarez holds doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of Wisconsin, and her postdoctoral training was in microbiology and immunology at Stanford University.
At CDC headquarters in Atlanta, employees have said Monarez was rarely heard from between late January and late March, when Trump nominated her.
The CDC was created nearly 80 years ago to prevent the spread of malaria in the U.S. Its mission was later expanded, and it gradually became a global leader on infectious and chronic diseases and a go-to source of health information.
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