C.D.C. Director Fitzgerald Resigns Over Tobacco and Other Investments

"The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned on Wednesday, in the middle of the nation’s worst flu epidemic in nearly a decade, because of her troubling financial investments in tobacco and health care companies that posed potential conflicts of interest.

Alex Azar, the newly appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, announced the resignation of the director, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald. An agency statement cited her “complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all her duties as the C.D.C. director.”

The statement continued: “Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period. After advising Secretary Azar of both the status of the financial interests and the scope of her recusal, Dr. Fitzgerald tendered, and the secretary accepted, her resignation. ”"

Sheila Kaplan reports for the New York Times January 31, 2018.

SEE ALSO:

"CDC Director Resigns After Report On Tobacco Stock Purchase" (Science)

"Why the CDC Director Had To Resign" (Politico)

"The Scandal That Just Forced The Cdc Director To Resign, Explained" (Vox)