The White House has appointed Jim O’Neill, a senior deputy to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as the new acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — www.naijnaira.com reports.
According to Anadolu, the decision came swiftly after President Donald Trump dismissed Susan Monarez, who had only been confirmed by the Senate weeks earlier.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Monarez “was not aligned with the president’s mission to make America healthy again,” adding that Trump exercised his authority to remove her.
O’Neill, who took office as deputy secretary of Health and Human Services in June, will now oversee the CDC alongside agencies such as the FDA, NIH, and Medicare.
His earlier career at HHS between 2002 and 2008 included key reforms at the Food and Drug Administration, where he helped implement stricter drug and food safety rules.
O’Neill, a Yale and University of Chicago graduate, is also a father of three and considered a trusted figure within Kennedy’s leadership team.
Monarez, a microbiologist with a PhD, had been sworn in by Kennedy on July 31, but her tenure lasted less than a month amid internal CDC turbulence.
Her removal has already triggered resignations from several senior CDC officials, many expressing unease with the administration’s public health policies.
Article updated 14 minutes ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
