NEW YORK: Jay Bhattacharya, a physician and economist, is taking over the leadership of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the acting director of the world’s premier medical research organisation.
Bhattacharya, who now heads the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will simultaneously hold the CDC position, he told NBC News, confirming several earlier news reports.
He steps into the CDC, which, like the rest of the federal health establishment, has been enmeshed in controversies under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and has been a revolving door for leaders.
Susan Monarez was fired as the CDC director in August after less than a month on the job, after clashing with Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic.