NIH director will also run CDC

National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya will also become acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the Trump administration continues a shakeup of its senior health leadership, two sources told Axios.

Why it matters: The CDC has lacked a permanent political leader since August, when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired career scientist Susan Monarez.

• Deputy Health Secretary Jim O'Neill, who is leaving his post, has been acting CDC director since then, presiding over the agency during a period of heavy turnover from staff reductions and DOGE-directed layoffs.
• Bhattacharya's appointment was first reported by the New York Times.

Driving the news: Bhattacharya is a former Stanford professor who has tried to deflect controversy over the administration's health agenda while others on the Trump health team have leaned into their roles as disruptors.

• He's presided over NIH during a period of unprecedented budget cuts and grant freezes, taking credit for fighting what he called "politicized science" while telling Congress he didn't accept the job to terminate grants.
• Bhattacharya rose to prominence in the Trump world as a vocal opponent of COVID-era lockdowns.
• He cowrote the Great Barrington Declaration, a petition from a group of scientists that argued for allowing COVID to spread among young, healthy people to reach herd immunity faster.

The permanent CDC director has to be confirmed by the Senate, which could be a big political lift heading into the midterm elections.