Newsom taps former CDC leaders critical of Trump-era health policies for new initiative
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SACRAMENTO — Gov.Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a new California-led public health initiative, tapping what he called a “dream team” of former U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials who publicly clashed with the Trump administration.Newsom said the initiative will be led by Dr.Susan Monarez, the former CDC director, and Dr.
Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer.The pair will lead the Public Health Network Innovation Exchange, or PHNIX, which the governor’s office said will “modernize public health infrastructure and maintain trust in science-driven decision-making.” The initiative was created to improve the systems that detect and investigate public health trends and build a modern public-health backbone that connects data, technology and funding across states.
The state is putting $4 million toward the initiative, which Newsom said was allocated in the most recently signed budget in June “in anticipation of this opportunity.”“We see this assault on science and truth and trust, where we’re seeing scientific inquiry being attacked, we’re seeing the CDC itself kneecapped by this administration,” Newsom said Monday, adding that there have been mass firings at the federal health agency.“We also felt we needed to do more than just play defense.
We needed to get on the offense.”Monarez will serve as strategic health technology and funding advisor for the initiative, helping advance private sector partnerships to better integrate healthcare data systems and enable faster disease surveillance.Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for the consultant contracts for the new hires and did not provide details on how much each would be paid.
The hirings were first reported by the New York Times.Monarez said “California is leading the way” and will “no longer sit on the sidelines and hope for a better future.�...