The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is facing major changes, with five senior leaders stepping down Tuesday.

These exits follow three other recent departures, meaning that as many as one-third of the agency’s top leaders have now left.

The departures were announced at a meeting of senior managers but were not announced to the public.

The Associated Press confirmed the departures through two CDC officials who asked to remain anonymous.

The CDC has about two dozen centers and offices. The leaders stepping down include:

• Leslie Ann Dauphin, who led the Public Health Infrastructure Center with more than 500 staff.

• Dr. Karen Remley, who oversaw the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

• Sam Posner, who headed the Office of Science, which publishes the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

• Debra Lubar, head of the Office of Policy, Performance and Evaluation.

• Leandris Liburd, who led the Office of Health Equity, formed in 2020 to help address COVID-19’s impact on minorities.

Other recent departures include the CDC’s top communications officer, its chief operating officer and a former deputy director.

Based in Atlanta, the CDC has a $9 billion budget and more than 13,000 employees, plus a similar number of contract workers. 

The agency is responsible for tracking and responding to disease outbreaks and other health threats.

“The challenges for these individuals to do their jobs on a daily basis must be enormous,” said Jason Schwartz, an associate professor at Yale School of Public Health who studies government health agencies. “The future of CDC is under threat, by any measure. It’s understandable why individuals may decide to move on rather than see the agency diminished in its works, and its resources, and its ability to do its job.”

Earlier this week, the White House announced Susan Monarez as its nominee for CDC director. It’s unclear if that decision played a role in the resignations. 

A previous nominee, Dr. David Weldon, was pulled from consideration just before a Senate hearing because he lacked votes for confirmation.

Adding to this tension, more than 500 probationary employees were laid off in February. 

Although judges later ordered that those workers be reinstated and paid during administrative leave, some say they still haven’t been allowed to return, The Associated Press reported.

“It would be foolhardy to predict what the CDC will look like” in a few months, let alone a couple of years, Schwartz said. But it’s understandable why senior leaders “might not want to sign up for that,” he added.

More information

Learn more about the role of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCE: The Associated Press, March 25, 2025

Source: HealthDay

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