Kennedy’s current deputy to become interim CDC director

White House officials on Thursday told multiple media outlets that Jim O’Neill had been tapped to lead the nation’s top health authority. He is expected to replace director Dr. Susan Monarez, whom federal officials fired Wednesday. She assumed the position late last month after previously holding several roles within the Department of Health and Human Services. The White House fired Monarez after she refused to fire several senior members of her staff and change vaccine policies, according to the president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. Richard Besser. Before leading the health nonprofit organization, Besser worked at the CDC for more than a dozen years, serving as the center’s acting director during the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Besser said he spoke to Monarez just before she was fired.

How have people responded to her firing? The CDC’s chief science and medical officer, Dr. Debra Houry, resigned Wednesday, citing proposed budget cuts, reorganization plans, and political influences on the center’s science mission as reasons for her departure. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Dr. Daniel Jernigan, who directed the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, also left. Staff at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters staged a walkout Thursday to show their support for the officials.

Several Democratic lawmakers criticized Monarez’s firing, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called for Kennedy himself to be fired over the move. Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and Kennedy were committed to restoring trust, transparency, and credibility to the CDC.

Who is O’Neill? Kennedy in June swore him in to serve as the deputy secretary of Health and Human Services. O’Neill worked as a technology and biotechnology investor before joining the HHS, including with the Thiel Foundation. He also served as CEO of the SENS Research Foundation that developed regenerative medicine for age-related diseases. O’Neill previously worked at the HHS from 2002-2008 with the George W. Bush administration.

Dig deeper: Read my initial report about Monarez’s firing.