President Trump has decided to pick Dr. Susan Monarez to be the new nominee to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sources familiar with the decision tell CBS News, making permanent the acting role she has served at the public health agency in recent months.
Monarez would be named in place of Dr. David Weldon, a former Florida congressman whose nomination was withdrawn by the White House earlier this month over concerns that he didn’t have the votes to clear the Senate confirmation process.
Spokespeople for the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately comment.
Monarez has apparently beat out others who had been seen as contenders for the role, including former obstetrician-gynecologist and Texas congressman Michael Burgess. Weldon had also floated Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo for the role, calling for him to be at the top of Trump’s list to replace him as the nominee.
If confirmed, Monarez would be the first head of the CDC to be voted on by senators, under a change passed by Congress in 2022. Previous directors of the agency were able to take the reins soon after they were picked by the president, without undergoing the confirmation process.
Monarez, who was previously deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, has been serving as the CDC’s acting head since January.
She has been viewed as an unconventional pick for the role because previous interim directors have come from within the CDC’s career ranks.
According to one federal health official, White House officials have said they are trying to “get it right” with their new pick. Another federal official said that Monarez had gotten along well with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, since taking on the role.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
