Senate confirmed Susan Monarez as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Susan Monarez as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, following a 51-47 vote. Monarez is President Donald Trump's second nominee for the position, and her confirmation materializes the turnaround of an agency that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, has made numerous efforts to reform, which has proved more uphill than expected, as the CDC has been without a concrete leader since March, the month Monarez resigned as its acting director after Trump officially nominated her.

The 50-year-old scientist, who was the first CDC director nominee to require Senate confirmation, will take over an agency under pressure after the Trump administration eliminated hundreds of positions and vowed to cut its budget in half by next year as part of its plan to reduce massive spending. In the absence of concrete leadership, Kennedy went so far as to fire all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which is an essential part of HHS as the proponent of several of the agency's official policies.

A figure far from controversy

According to different media outlets, Monarez has been characterized in recent years as a figure far removed from controversy, who has come to work in the federal government for almost two decades and with different administrations in various offices. Prior to her role at the agency, the 50-year-old scientist served as the deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), and even became a fellow in science and technology policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science before working in the federal government.

During the confirmation vote, Louisiana Republican Senator and HELP committee chairman Bill Cassidy justified his support for Monarez by asserting thatthe United States "needs a CDC director who makes decisions rooted in science, a leader who will reform the agency and work to restore public trust in health institutions."