Newsom appoints ex-CDC officials to lead California’s new public health network | California
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, announced the appointments to state positions of two prominent scientists who left the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in recent months due to conflicts with the Trump administration.
Dr. Susan Monarez, former CDC director, will lead California’s new public health initiative, the Public Health Network Innovation Exchange (PHNIX).
In August, Monarez was fired by the Trump administration less than a month into the CDC’s top job, after refusing to resign. Monarez had clashed with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy.
Newsom also hired former CDC chief medical officer Dr. Debra Houry, who resigned after a decade with the agency following Monarez’s firing.
Monarez and Houry testified before Congress in September to express concerns about Secretary Kennedy’s vaccine program and the sweeping changes it was making to the nation’s public health system.
PHNIX was created to modernize the state’s public health infrastructure and serve as a direct response to the Trump administration’s dismantling of public health safeguards and prioritization of vaccine skepticism. PHNIX’s focus areas will be technology development, information infrastructure modernization and financing frameworks, according to the governor’s office.
“The Public Health Network Innovation Exchange should bring together the best science, the best tools and the best minds to advance public health,” Newsom said in a statement.
“By bringing in expert science leaders to partner on this launch, we are strengthening collaboration and laying the foundation for a modern public health infrastructure that will provide confidence and stability in scientific data, not only across California, but nationally and globally.” »
Monarez will serve as a strategic advisor on health technology and financing for PHNIX, while Houry will have the title of senior medical advisor on regional and global public health.
Newsom has become one of Trump’s most high-profile critics. Since Trump took office for the second time, Newsom has enacted a series of initiatives intended to combat the administration’s actions. In March, he signed an executive order to make it easier to hire federal employees laid off in response to mass layoffs orchestrated by Doge. Newsom also solidified California as a symbol of resistance to Trump through his participation in the West Coast Health Alliance and the Governors Public Health Alliance.
Newsom plans to make a bid for the White House in 2028, but has said he will wait to make a decision before the 2026 midterm elections. His term as governor of California ends in 2027 and he cannot run again due to term limits.
