Democracy Dies in Darkness
Opinion

I resigned from the CDC. Here are three questions for RFK Jr.

I’ve seen the secretary’s effect on public health policy firsthand.

6 min
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
(Washington Post illustration; Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
By

Debra Houry is an emergency physician and was the chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until last week.

Last week, I and two colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned after the White House’s firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez. In my role as the CDC’s chief medical officer as well as the agency’s lead last winter for the transition to the Trump administration, I have had a firsthand view of how public health policy has been affected by the arrival of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services.

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