Following the departure of Jim O'Neill, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., will step in as acting leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to media reports.
The New York Times first reported Wednesday that Bhattacharya will hold dual roles at the helm of the NIH and the CDC until the Trump administration appoints a permanent leader for the latter agency, who will need to be confirmed by the Senate.
The CDC has seen a series of leaders over the past year, with O'Neill serving as the acting director of the agency following the ouster of Susan Monarez, Ph.D., who was fired by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after less than a month in the role.
An HHS spokesperson confirmed the news to Fierce Healthcare.
Bhattacharya is a physician and medical economist but lacks a background in public health, according to the NYT report. He has, however, had a research focus in population health.
Public health leaders told the NYT it will be exceedingly difficult for Bhattacharya to manage both agencies simultaneously, especially as the CDC has been hit hard with multiple rounds of funding cuts as well as a wave of firings and resignations that leaves few career leaders in place.
Debra Houry, M.D., a former chief medical officer at the CDC who departed in August, told the NYT that while the CDC and the NIH do have programs they work on together, the agencies "have a fundamentally different approach" in their work.
The geographic differences—the NIH is based in Bethesda, Maryland, while the CDC is headquartered in Atlanta—will also pose a major challenge for Bhattacharya, according to the article.
O'Neill's exit from the CDC was revealed late last week alongside a leadership shake-up across the HHS. The Washington Post reported that he will be offered an ambassadorship.
The HHS said then it was promoting Chris Klomp, the director of Medicare at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), to the role of chief counselor at the HHS. RFK Jr. last week also named two new senior counselors for the Food and Drug Administration as well as a senior counselor for the CMS.
The leadership changes come as RFK Jr. shifts his rhetorical focus in a critical election year away from his controversial views on vaccinations and toward more palatable topics like healthy eating and exercise. The former has garnered pushback from professional groups amid major policy changes unveiled last year and in early January.