The U.S. Senate’s health committee on Wednesday approved Susan Monarez to be President Donald Trump’s director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, taking her one step closer to confirmation.
The committee voted 12-11 for advancing her nomination to the full Senate. The vote went along party lines, with Democrats in opposition.
Monarez, 50, is poised to become the first CDC director to pass through Senate confirmation following a 2023 law. She was named acting director in January and then tapped as the nominee in March after Trump abruptly withdrew his first choice, David Weldon.
She holds a doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of Wisconsin, and a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. Prior to the CDC, Monarez was largely known for her government roles in health technology and biosecurity.
The committee’s action comes after months of turmoil with no leader at the helm of the Atlanta-based federal agency tasked with tracking diseases and responding to health threats.
The CDC has been hit by widespread staff cuts, resignations of key officials and heated controversy over longstanding CDC vaccine policies upended by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Last month, Monarez told senators that she values vaccines, public health interventions and rigorous scientific evidence, but she largely dodged questions about whether those positions put her at odds with Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic who has criticized and sought to dismantle some of the agency’s previous protocols and decisions.
“Unfortunately, Dr. Monarez — who has served as Trump’s acting CDC director — has done nothing to stand in the way” of Kennedy’s actions, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, said Wednesday.
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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