The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is facing further instability as five high-ranking officials departed on Tuesday.
The resignations were revealed during a meeting with the agency’s top executives. The CDC, which is based in Atlanta and comprises two dozen centers and offices, is losing the heads of five of these units. This follows three additional departures in recent weeks, meaning almost a third of the agency’s senior management team has recently left or is leaving.
These departures, characterized as retirements, were not made public. The Associated Press verified the information with two CDC officials who remained anonymous because they lacked authorization to discuss it.
The announcements occurred a day after the White House announced Susan Monarez as its nominee for CDC director. However, it’s unclear if this influenced the leaders’ decisions to leave. Earlier in the month, the Trump administration withdrew its nomination of Dr. David Weldon, a former Florida congressman, just before his Senate hearing.
CDC staff, including leadership, have been anticipating potential staff reductions and a significant agency restructuring by the Trump administration. White House officials are currently reviewing a proposal for workforce reduction at the CDC and other federal health agencies, submitted earlier this month. The specifics of the proposal remain undisclosed.
“It must be incredibly challenging for these individuals to perform their duties daily,” stated Jason Schwartz, a health policy researcher at Yale University specializing in government health agencies. “The CDC’s future is undoubtedly at risk. It’s understandable that individuals might choose to leave rather than witness the agency’s work, resources, and capabilities diminish.”
Schwartz added that the loss of experienced leaders is a further setback for an already under-pressure agency.
The recent departures include:
Leslie Ann Dauphin, who is in charge of the Public Health Infrastructure Center, which has more than 500 employees. This center is responsible for coordinating CDC funding, strategy, and technical support for state, local, and territorial health departments.
Dr. Karen Remley, the head of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, which had over 220 full-time employees at the start of the year.
Sam Posner, the director of the Office of Science, where over 100 CDC employees work on research and science policy, as well as publish the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Debra Lubar, who manages the Office of Policy, Performance and Evaluation, which has a staff of 65.
Leandris Liburd, the head of the Office of Health Equity, with approximately 40 employees. Liburd assumed the role in 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate impact on Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities.
In addition, Kevin Griffis, head of CDC’s office of communications, departed last week. Robin Bailey, the agency’s chief operating officer, left late last month, as did Dr. Nirav Shah, a former CDC principal deputy director who was the agency’s leading spokesperson on the evolving bird flu epidemic in animals that has also affected at least 70 people in the U.S. last year.
The CDC, with a core budget exceeding $9 billion, is tasked with protecting Americans from disease outbreaks and other public health threats. At the beginning of the year, it had over 13,000 employees and nearly 13,000 contract workers.
In February, at least 550 probationary employees were laid off, although these layoffs were challenged in lawsuits, and two federal judges ordered their reinstatement. According to some of the laid-off employees, this has not yet occurred, although the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has extended their administrative leave pay in accordance with court orders.
Schwartz stated that “it would be unwise to predict the CDC’s future” in the coming months or years, adding that it is understandable why senior leaders “might not want to commit to that.”
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