Bhattacharya to Lead CDC Temporarily After Acting Director’s Departure

Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) following the departure of Jim O’Neill, who had been serving as acting director, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

O’Neill assumed the role after Susan Monarez, PhD, was fired by the Trump administration following clashes with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Prior to joining NIH, Bhattacharya was a professor of medicine at Stanford University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has served as NIH director since March 2025.