The deputy director and chief medical officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will resign after six months on the job, according to an email from the agency obtained by the Guardian.
Dr. Jennifer Shuford was appointed by Donald Trump in April as part of a four-person leadership team.
The appointments were aimed at stabilizing the agency after former CDC director Susan Monarez left the role less than a month after taking office – publicly calling Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s directives “unscientific”.
“I am leaving to spend more time with my family,” Shuford said in a statement emailed by CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz. “I am very grateful to President Trump and Secretary Kennedy for giving me the opportunity to help lead the CDC. It has been an incredible experience, and I will be forever grateful.”
Shuford is expected to leave his post on November 12, after the midterm elections.
The deputy director was named in April as part of a four-person team, alongside Schwartz and two other senior leaders. Shuford’s appointment was praised by public health leaders, such as the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), which would have known of his work as Texas health commissioner.
Trump described the team as “highly respected medical doctors (who) have the TOP knowledge, experience and credentials to restore the GOLDEN STATE OF SCIENCE at CDC,” in a social media post.
Since Shuford worked at the agency, Kennedy has made significant changes that undermine trust and access to vaccines. To cite just a few recent examples: Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC’s expert vaccine advisory committee and replaced them with ideologically aligned appointees, slow updates on deaths in the agency’s measles dashboard and forced the CDC to publicly contradict the scientific consensus on vaccines and autism — a change the Autism Science Foundation said left it “dismayed.”
At the same time, the agency lost a third of its staff and 48 separate measles outbreaks rocked the United States, including in Pennsylvania. The overwhelming majority of Americans – including Maha supporters – trust vaccines.
after newsletter promotion
“I am deeply grateful for Dr. Shuford’s exceptional leadership and commitment to the CDC and public health, especially as she has navigated an exceptionally demanding, large-scale and constantly evolving environment over the past several months,” Schwartz said in the email announcing Shuford’s departure.
Dr. Satish Pillai will serve as interim deputy director and chief medical officer while the team searches for a successor to Shuford.
Gn headline
