Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who directs the National Institute of Health, is taking over as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he confirmed to NBC News.
Bhattacharya replaces Jim O’Neill, who served simultaneously as acting CDC director and deputy secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.
The transition is the latest in a monthslong series of leadership shake-ups across federal health agencies.
Former CDC director Susan Monarez was fired in August after 29 days on the job. She said in public testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed her because she refused to blindly approve vaccine guidance changes. Kennedy has disputed her account. Several top CDC officials resigned in protest after Monarez’s ousting.
At NIH, a combination of terminations, resignations and retirements has left more than half of the agency’s 27 institutes and centers without permanent directors. Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, who in 2023 succeeded Anthony Fauci as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Kennedy fired her in September because of her defense of vaccines and for speaking out against the cancellation of NIH research.