After the confirmation process of former Congressman Dr. Dave Weldon to head the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) abruptly halted on March, various names were floated to be the new nominee, including former Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess. The White House announced their new nominee on March 24 is Susan Monarez, PhD. Who is she?
Since January, Dr. Monarez has been the acting head of the CDC. She was brought over to the CDC from ARPA-H, where she has been the Deputy Director since January 2023. She has a long history in the government, serving under both Democratic and Republican administrations at Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security, the White House (Obama and Trump administrations), and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Prior to government service, Monarez was a postdoctoral fellow and graduate student, respectively, at Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she focused on technology development to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases particularly impacting people living in low- and middle-income countries.
There are a few interesting facets of her nomination:
First, she will be the first person ever confirmed by the Senate to run the CDC. Prior to 2022, CDC directors were appointed; but Congress passed a law that year saying any future CDC heads would be confirmed by the Senate. Second, if she is confirmed, she will be the first non-medical doctor to run the CDC since 1953. Prior CDC heads were M.D.s – Dr. Monarez is a Ph.D., not an M.D.
A key difference between Dr. Monarez and the previous CDC nominee Dave Weldon is her support for vaccines. In her work at ARPA-H, Dr. Monarez has strongly supported APECx which is an initiative to use artificial intelligence to design antigens that target entire viral families. (She has spoken at public conferences in favor of the program.) ARPA-H argues the studied viruses (like herpesviruses and flaviviruses, such as Zika and dengue fever) pose serious threats to global health, causing pandemics, cancers, and chronic illnesses.
Anti-vax groups are concerned about her support for vaccines, but that support will certainly help her nomination chances in the physician-heavy Senate Finance Committee.
Dr. Monarez is also a strong proponent of the use of AI in health care. In her career, she has focused on understanding challenges within the health ecosystem and identifying opportunities for innovation to address them through AI, technology, and innovation.
Critics argue that her extensive background within the federal health bureaucracy and a heavy focus on technology-driven biosecurity suggests a continuation of the status quo rather than the long-overdue “Make America Health Again” reform.
Thus far, the announcement of her nomination has been well-received, with very little push back. We do expect her to field pointed questions from Senators regarding CDC actions over the past few weeks, including the cancelling of CDC grant funding and the delayed meeting of vaccine advisors (including for formulating strains for the flu vaccine for the 2025-2026 flu season). We will continue to watch what happens as her vetting continues.