U.S. Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary, Jim O’Neill, has been appointed acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy announced in a letter to CDC staff.
O’Neill, who joined HHS in June, brings experience as a Silicon Valley technology and biotech investor, with past roles at the Thiel Foundation and the Thiel Fellowship, a program launched by billionaire Palantir co-founder, Peter Thiel, to support young entrepreneurs.
He also previously served at HHS during the George W. Bush administration, where, as principal associate deputy secretary, he oversaw reforms in food regulation and emergency response.
O’Neill takes the helm amid a period of upheaval at the CDC following the firing of Director Dr. Susan Monarez and a series of high-profile resignations this week.
On Thursday, CDC employees gathered outside the agency’s Atlanta headquarters to bid farewell to departing senior officials, including Dr. Debra Houry, chief medical officer including Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, chief of vaccines and respiratory diseases; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Dr. Jennifer Layden, the agency’s data chief.
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