May 7, 2021 - Politics & Policy

CDC respiratory disease chief to resign

Jacob Knutson

National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Nancy Messonnier speaking during a press conference in January 2020. — Nancy Messonnier speaking during a press conference in January 2020. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images

CDC respiratory disease chief Nancy Messonnier, who last year was the first U.S. health official to alert Americans of the disruptions to everyday life that the coronavirus would cause, said she will resign on May 14, according to an email to colleagues on Friday obtained by the Washington Post.

Why it matters: Messonnier became a target of former President Trump after she contradicted White House messaging in February 2020 by warning that health experts expected the novel coronavirus to kill thousands of people in the U.S.

Context: Messonnier has directed the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases since 2016.

She was taken off of the agency's coronavirus task force last month as part of a reorganization under the CDC’s new director, Rochelle Walensky, according to Politico.

What they're saying: “My family and I have determined that now is the best time for me to transition to a new phase of my career,” she wrote in the email, which was reviewed by the Post.

“CDC has provided me many meaningful, rewarding, and challenging opportunities to grow intellectually and mature as a public health leader.”

Messonnier said in the email that she is leaving the agency to become executive director for pandemic and public health systems at the Palo Alto-based Skoll Foundation.

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CDC respiratory disease chief to resign

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