NIH director will serve as acting director of CDC; O’Neill will serve as president of the National Science Foundation
Jay Bhattacharya also serves as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
White House officials confirm that the director of the National Institutes of Health will serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and President Trump will nominate the former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to lead the National Science Foundation Inside higher education. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are among the largest federal funders of university research.
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya will continue in his current role while leading the CDC “until a permanent CDC director is nominated and confirmed,” the official said. Jim O’Neill was fired last week from his role as CDC leader, a position he had held since late August. The NIH is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and the CDC is headquartered in Atlanta.
“Both are highly qualified for these positions and the White House has full confidence in them delivering on the president’s agenda,” the official said.
Bhattacharya takes on new responsibilities leading the CDC at a time when the NIH still lacks permanent leadership in many top positions. With Lindsey A. Criswell stepping down last week as director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Dermatology, 16 directors of the agency’s 27 institutes and centers are taking over on an acting basis.
These NIH directors left for a variety of reasons, including termination and resignation by the Trump administration.
