Jennifer Shuford will leave her CDC post on 12 November after six months as deputy director and chief medical officer. Dr Satish Pillai will serve as acting deputy director and chief medical officer when she steps down.
Shuford said, "I am leaving to spend more time with my family." She added, "I am so thankful to President Trump and Secretary Kennedy for giving me the opportunity to help lead CDC. It has been an amazing experience, and I will be forever grateful for it."
April appointment at CDC
Donald Trump appointed Shuford in April as part of a four-person senior leadership team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her departure follows less than a month after Susan Monarez left the CDC director job, leaving another senior slot to be filled while the agency searches for a successor.
Erica Schwartz statement
Dr Erica Schwartz sent Shuford's statement by email and said she is deeply grateful for Dr Shuford's "outstanding leadership and commitment to CDC and public health, especially as she has navigated an exceptionally demanding, high-profile, and constantly evolving environment over the past several months."
The leadership changes have come while the CDC has lost one-third of its workforce and faced 48 distinct measles outbreaks in the United States. Robert F Kennedy Jr was described as the health secretary whose directives Susan Monarez called "unscientific," and Trump separately described the team as "Highly Respected Doctors of Medicine [who] have the knowledge, experience, and TOP degrees to restore the GOLD STANDARD OF SCIENCE at the CDC."
For CDC staff and outside partners, the immediate change is operational: Shuford is out on 12 November, Pillai takes over in an acting capacity, and the search for a permanent replacement becomes the next test for a leadership team that has already turned over quickly.
