Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has been appointed as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), marking the latest in a series of leadership changes across U.S. federal health agencies. Bhattacharya confirmed the transition in a statement to NBC News.
He succeeds Jim O’Neill, who had served simultaneously as acting CDC director and deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The move follows months of high-profile departures and terminations in federal health leadership.
Former CDC Director Susan Monarez was dismissed in August after just 29 days in office, a decision she attributed to her refusal to approve changes to vaccine guidance without scrutiny. Several senior CDC officials resigned in protest after her removal. At the NIH, more than half of the agency’s 27 institutes and centers are currently without permanent directors due to a combination of resignations, retirements, and firings.
Bhattacharya, a former Stanford Medicine professor, gained public attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for opposing lockdown measures. Since taking the helm of the NIH in April, he has emphasized research in areas aligned with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s priorities, including chronic disease, nutrition, and “high-risk, high-reward” scientific projects. He has also advocated for increased replication of studies to ensure research reliability.
During O’Neill’s tenure as acting CDC director, several controversial policy changes were enacted. These included a revision of the childhood vaccine schedule that reduced the number of vaccines universally recommended for all children and altered guidance on hepatitis B vaccination for newborns. O’Neill also endorsed recommendations allowing individuals to decide, with their doctors, whether to receive COVID-19 vaccines and encouraged vaccine manufacturers to consider separate doses for measles, mumps, and rubella—a shift from the combined MMR vaccine used since 1971.
The appointment of Bhattacharya comes as federal health agencies continue to navigate an unprecedented period of turnover and scrutiny, with ongoing debates over vaccine policy and public health priorities.
A spokesperson for HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
