As her tenure as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention winds down, Mandy Cohen is in persuasion mode — simultaneously trying to convince critics of the CDC in the incoming administration that the agency has re-focused since its pandemic-era missteps, and calm nervous staff about what is to come.
The public health agency, which has long served as a model for peer institutions around the globe, is in the crosshairs of both the Republican-led Congress and the people set to be nominated to key health positions in the second Trump administration.
Congress recently proposed a 22% budget cut for the CDC, saying it’s time for the agency to shed many of its responsibilities — entrusted to it by Congress — and return to its original mandate, a focus on communicable diseases. At the same time, some allies of President-elect Trump, notably those in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, believe the CDC needs to train its resources more squarely on efforts to curb chronic diseases.
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