--- title: CDC Director Refuses to Leave After White House Fires Her description: Monarez, a longtime federal government scientist, was confirmed to the role in late July. canonical: https://time.com/7312827/susan-monarez-cdc-director/ author: Connor Greene article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-08-27T21:35:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2025-08-28T20:13:01.000Z article:section: Health og:title: CDC Director Refuses to Leave After White House Fires Her og:description: Monarez, a longtime federal government scientist, was confirmed to the role in late July. og:url: https://time.com/7312827/susan-monarez-cdc-director/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43c68091d0ff1c80/6998c959e2d64be49bc5f9f8/susan-monarez-cdc-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: DC: U.S. Congress, Senate Nomination Hearing for CDC Directo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC Director Refuses to Leave After White House Fires Her twitter:description: Monarez, a longtime federal government scientist, was confirmed to the role in late July. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43c68091d0ff1c80/6998c959e2d64be49bc5f9f8/susan-monarez-cdc-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CDC Director Susan Monarez Refuses to Leave as White House Seeks to Oust Her Weeks Into Job > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) and [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/) Updated: Aug 28, 2025 8:13 PM UTCPublished: Aug 27, 2025 9:35 PM UTC  Dr. Susan Monarez testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on her nomination to be Director of the CDC, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2025. Dr. Susan Monarez testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on her nomination to be Director of the CDC, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2025. Graeme Sloan—Sipa USA/AP Images by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) and [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/) Updated: Aug 28, 2025 8:13 PM UTCPublished: Aug 27, 2025 9:35 PM UTC Susan Monarez is refusing to step down from her position as director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the White House seeks to fire her. The Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Monarez, a longtime federal government scientist who assumed her role just weeks earlier, was “no longer director” of the CDC in an[ X post](https://x.com/HHSGov/status/1960818490614415869) Wednesday evening. Attorneys representing Monarez pushed back, saying that Monarez had not “received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign.” “When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directive and fire dedicated health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” attorneys Mark S. Zaid and Abbe David Lowell wrote in a Wednesday [statement](https://x.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1960844289497555366) on X. A spokesperson for President Donald Trump later [told](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/health/cdc-monarez-kennedy-vaccines.html) multiple news outlets that Monarez was “not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again” and that the White House had terminated her from her position since she had refused to resign. Monarez’s counsel, however, said that Monarez had been told of her firing by “White House staff in the personnel office” and rejected the notification as “[legally deficient](https://x.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1960914720137076768),” arguing that only Trump can fire her because she was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. TIME has reached out to HHS, the CDC, and the White House for comment. The[ Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/08/27/susan-monarez-cdc-director-ousted/) first broke the news of Monarez’s firing. The _Post_ reported, citing people familiar with the conversations, that Kennedy pushed for Monarez to resign after she said she wouldn’t commit to supporting the Administration’s efforts to change coronavirus vaccine policies without first speaking with her advisers. Monarez declined to immediately offer her resignation, according to the outlet, but was instructed to do so or be fired by Administration officials after she angered Kennedy further by seeking support from Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Under the leadership of Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, HHS has moved to notably shift the country’s vaccine policies. On Wednesday, the FDA [approved](https://apnews.com/article/vaccines-covid-shots-fda-kennedy-pfizer-children-9ce19908ae7afb354732aa162fd28532) COVID-19 shots with new restrictions, limiting eligibility for the vaccine to groups deemed high-risk. Earlier in August, HHS said it would begin winding down the development of [mRNA vaccines](https://time.com/7307775/mrna-vaccines-rfk-jr-hhs/) at an agency focused on developing countermeasures to public health emergencies, despite those vaccines having been [credited](http://v) by health experts with saving millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. And in June, Kennedy [removed](https://time.com/7292553/rfk-jr-removes-cdc-vaccine-committee-experts/) all the experts from a committee that provides vaccine recommendations to the CDC to be replaced by members he appointed. HHS, like other federal agencies, has also been subject to [mass layoffs ](https://time.com/7273450/trump-administration-gut-health-institutions/)since Trump returned to the White House in January. Monarez’s attorneys pointed to the controversial moves in their Wednesday statement. “First it was independent advisory committees and career experts. Then it was the dismissal of seasoned scientists,” they wrote. “Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk.” At least four top officials have reportedly resigned from the CDC following Monarez’s firing. They include Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Chief Medical Officer Deb Houry; and Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Jen Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, [according to NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-director-monarez-out-confirmed-rfk-jr-rcna227620). “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health,” Daskalakis wrote in an email, according to [STAT](https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/27/cdc-director-susan-monarez-ousted/). “I am committed to protecting the public’s health, but the ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency,” Houry additionally wrote, adding that science should “never be censored or subject to political interpretations.” Monarez was nominated to head the CDC by President Donald Trump following the withdrawal of his first pick, former Republican congressman[ David Weldon](https://time.com/7267247/dave-weldon-cdc-director-trump-nominee-what-to-know/). She was the first director of the CDC to be confirmed by the Senate, securing the upper chamber’s approval in a party-line vote, and the only non-physician to lead the agency. When she was sworn into her role on July 31st, Kennedy[ called](https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2025/2025-secretary-kennedy-swears-in-susan-monarez-as-cdc-director-to-advance-make-america-healthy-again.html) Monarez “a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials.” “I have full confidence in her ability to restore the CDC's role as the most trusted authority in public health and to strengthen our nation's readiness to confront infectious diseases and biosecurity threats," Kennedy said at the time. Before her confirmation as CDC Director, Monarez served as Acting Director for the agency and Deputy Director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. Her departure comes shortly after a[ shooting on the CDC Atlanta campus](https://time.com/7308699/cdc-shooting-atlanta-suspect-named/) on August 8th, which killed DeKalb County police officer David Rose. Monarez is not the first Trump Administration official to be[ dismissed](https://time.com/4881442/donald-trump-anthony-scaramucci-white-house-firings/) shortly after starting their role. Earlier this month, Billy Long was removed as Internal Revenue Service chief two months after he was confirmed. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent took over as acting commissioner of the agency. During President Trump's first term, several top officials were removed after brief stints in his Administration in the initial months after he entered the White House, including Anthony Scaramucci, who was the White House Communications Director for just ten days. Former National Security Advisor[ Mike Flynn](https://time.com/4670930/white-house-president-trump-asked-for-flynns-resignation/) in 2017 was asked to resign from his post after 24 days, the shortest tenure for anyone in that position. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7312827/susan-monarez-cdc-director/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7312827/susan-monarez-cdc-director/"},"headline":"CDC Director Susan Monarez Refuses to Leave as White House Seeks to Oust Her Weeks Into Job","datePublished":"2025-08-27T21:35:24.000Z","dateModified":"2025-08-28T20:13:01.000Z","description":"Monarez, a longtime federal government scientist, was confirmed to the role in late July.","url":"https://time.com/7312827/susan-monarez-cdc-director/","keywords":["Trump Administration","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43c68091d0ff1c80/6998c959e2d64be49bc5f9f8/susan-monarez-cdc-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Connor Greene","jobTitle":"Editorial Fellow","url":"https://time.com/author/connor-greene/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Solcyré Burga","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43c68091d0ff1c80/6998c959e2d64be49bc5f9f8/susan-monarez-cdc-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"DC: U.S. Congress, Senate Nomination Hearing for CDC Directo","caption":"DC: U.S. Congress, Senate Nomination Hearing for CDC Directo","creditText":"Graeme Sloan—Sipa USA/AP Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/trump-administration/","name":"Trump Administration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7312827/susan-monarez-cdc-director/","name":"CDC Director Susan Monarez Refuses to Leave as White House Seeks to Oust Her Weeks Into Job"}}]}] ```