Who Appointed CDC Head Susan Monarez? Trump Is Trying to Fire Her

The Trump administration's quest to fire civil servants who are not loyal to the president has now made its way to the CDC. Trump is working to fire Susan Monarez, the head of the CDC, after she apparently refused to support changes to the COVID vaccine policy and the firings of high-level staff, according to ABC News.

Thus far, though, Monarez has refused to accept her firing or step aside and is making plenty of noise about the reasons for her firing. Naturally, then, many are wondering who appointed her as head of the CDC. Here's what we know.

Susan Monarez was appointed in March of 2025 to be head of the CDC by President Trump. She has previously held roles at the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. National Security Council, and also worked in the Department of Homeland Security. She has had those roles under administrations of both parties, and appears to be a largely apolitical actor, at least through her career thus far.

While we don't have many public statements on why the administration is looking to fire Monarez, we do know that Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. has long been skeptical of the CDC's priorities.

"It would be inappropriate for me to comment on a personnel issue," Kennedy said during an interview on Fox and Friends. "What I will say is President Trump has very, very ambitious hopes for what for CDC right now."

"CDC has problems," he continued. "You know, we saw the misinformation coming out of COVID. They got the testing wrong. They got the social distancing, the masks, the school closures that did so much harm to the American people."

Monarez's lawyers, meanwhile, have suggested that she was fired because she refused to sign on to policies that don't have any basis in scientific fact.

"When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted," her lawyers said.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai released an additional statement that reemphasized that Monarez has indeed been fired by the White House, which is within their authority.

"As her attorney's statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the president's agenda of Making America Healthy Again. Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC," he said..

Monarez's firing touched off a wave of resignations from senior-level officials inside the CDC, a fundamental gutting of the agency that might change how it operates and whether the information coming out of it can be trusted as scientifically verified.

Monarez has been clear about her support for vaccines, and it seems like the dividing line between her and the administration is her belief that more people should receive the COVID-19 vaccine.