Trump picks acting CDC director Susan Monarez to lead agency

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump plans to nominate Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the organization she currently leads in an acting capacity, a White House official said on Monday.

Monarez, with 20 years of U.S. government agency experience, was previously deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, a research funding agency that describes itself as supporting "transformative biomedical and health breakthroughs."

She also previously held roles at the Department of Homeland Security and in the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Monarez will continue to lead the response to public health threats, including the growing measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico that has killed two people, and play a critical role in tackling the spread of bird flu.

Atlanta-based CDC, with an annual budget of $17.3 billion, tracks and responds to domestic and foreign threats to public health. Roughly two-thirds of its budget funds the public health and prevention activities of state and local health agencies.

It is also responsible for making vaccine recommendations for Americans, including by setting the childhood vaccination schedule, and funds vaccines for children who otherwise would not have access to them.

Monarez would report to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has sown doubt about the safety of vaccines for decades. Her positions on vaccines are not widely known.

Monarez is not a physician but has a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology. She has been a government employee since 2006 and served under both Republican and Democratic presidents.

The Department of Health and Human Services was not immediately available for comment.

The White House earlier this month withdrew the nomination of former Republican congressman and vaccine critic Dave Weldon to head the CDC. Weldon told Reuters at the time he had been informed there were not enough Senate votes to confirm him for the post.

Weldon's nomination was pulled in a surprise move before his scheduled hearing in front of the committee on March 13. Weldon, a physician who has criticized vaccines, said he had been told there were not enough votes for confirmation.

Weldon was the first Trump nominee withdrawn from consideration. The Republican-led Senate has confirmed several unconventional and controversial Trump picks including Kennedy, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who had been critical of U.S. intelligence efforts.

Monarez would require a vote from Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, a doctor who had expressed wariness about Kennedy's anti-vaccine views. He ultimately cleared the path for his confirmation after Kennedy pledged to protect existing vaccination programs.

The White House also considered former Republican Representative Michael Burgess for the role, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last week.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Michael Erman and Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Leslie Adler and Richard Chang)