Jay Bhattacharya will become the latest leader of the CDC on an acting basis, days after Jim O’Neill stepped aside.
National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya will step up to lead the CDC on an acting basis following the departure of Jim O’Neill, who left earlier this week, multiple news outlets reported.
The CDC, which oversees public health in the U.S., had been left leaderless when acting director O’Neill stepped away. He had also been serving as deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The New York Times was the first to report the news of Bhattacharya’s temporary additional role on Wednesday, citing White House and administration officials.
The CDC under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has faced significant scrutiny. The Trump administration appointed Susan Monarez as CDC director last year, but she was fired after just 28 days on the job. Monarez—the agency’s first senate-confirmed leader—later revealed that she had been pressured by Kennedy to pre-approve recommendations by the center’s vaccines advisory panel.
Bhattacharya has been heavily involved in Kennedy’s efforts to upend vaccine recommendations at the CDC, including the May decision to rescind a recommendation that healthy children and healthy pregnant women receive COVID-19 vaccines. Bhattacharya was also named to lead the revived Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines.
O’Neill, meanwhile, will reportedly be named to the National Science Foundation, Politico reported.
