Susan Monarez testified before a Senate committee.
President Donald Trump’s new nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told senators on June 25 that she would refocus the agency to tackle infectious diseases but still look to support the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda promoted by Trump and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“As CDC refocuses its efforts specifically on communicable diseases … we’ll be laser-focused on that area, but we will continue, and I will continue, to make sure that we’re supporting the secretary’s vision of overall Making America Healthy Again,” Susan Monarez, nominee to lead the CDC, said during her confirmation hearing in Washington.
She listed as an example improving children’s access to sources of food and clean water, which was described as being under the umbrella of working to “reduce all of these conditions leading to … chronic diseases in [American] children.”
Trump on March 24 nominated Monarez, who was serving as the CDC’s acting director, to take the post permanently. She stepped away after being nominated because the nominee cannot be the agency’s acting director under federal law.
Trump, when nominating Monarez, noted that she has worked in public health and related fields for decades and described her as “an incredible mother and dedicated public servant.”
If confirmed, Monarez would report to Kennedy. Trump said Monarez would work with Kennedy to restore confidence in the CDC and address what he described as “the chronic disease epidemic.”
Kennedy said on social media platform X, “I handpicked Susan for this job because she is a longtime champion of MAHA values, and a caring, compassionate and brilliant microbiologist and a tech wizard who will reorient CDC toward public health and gold-standard science.”
Senators on June 25 pressed Monarez multiple times on whether she disagrees with any moves Kennedy has made as HHS secretary, including the removal of all members of the panel that advises the CDC on vaccines.
Monarez declined to detail any disagreements.
