Former CDC director is excited about work in the private sector | HLTH 2025

Las Vegas – Nothing about Susan Monarez’s departure from the federal government was as she planned.

But in an appearance at the HLTH conference, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said she’s looking forward to life outside of government.

“I'm super excited to be on the outside,” Monarez said in an appearance on the main stage Tuesday.

“I think that now, having accumulated 20 years’ worth of understanding of, how do you actually invest in different technology, and how do you take it to scale and have an impact with it, I'm excited now to contribute that knowledge directly into the private sector,” she said.

Monarez spoke for about 30 minutes in a conversation with Dr. Jordan Shlain, the founder and executive chairman of Private Medical, a concierge medical practice. She appeared relaxed and smiled frequently as she talked about her career in government. They did not discuss her departure from the CDC.

President Trump fired Monarez less than a month after the Senate voted to confirm her as the CDC director. The White House said she wasn’t aligned with Trump’s priorities, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told lawmakers she couldn’t be trusted.

Monarez told a U.S. Senate committee that she was forced out because she wouldn’t give blanket approval to changes in vaccine policy without seeing sound evidence. She also said she wouldn’t fire top officials with scientific credentials at Kennedy’s behest, and she warned that Kennedy was pushing changes to vaccine policy.

Other top CDC leaders resigned after her firing, and Democratic lawmakers and some medical groups urged Trump to ask for Kennedy’s resignation or to fire him. Healthcare groups have routinely hammered Kennedy over changes to vaccine policy and his ouster of top leaders in federal health agencies.

Monarez also received widespread praise for standing up for science and public health, even as it led to her firing.

At HLTH, Monarez reflect on her years in government. Before being tapped to lead the CDC, Monarez served as deputy director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, the federal agency created by former President Biden tasked with finding breakthroughs in cancer and other diseases. Monarez also served as a science adviser for the Department of Homeland Security. She has a PhD in microbiology and immunology.

“I had such an extraordinary privilege in the time that I spent in government,” she said.

As she navigates life outside of government for the first time in two decades, Monarez said she has some plans.

Monarez said she’s working on consulting with entities that are working to develop technologies that are scalable, sustainable and have a significant impact.

She said she’s looking forward to working with groups in the private sector to say, “Is there something that we can be using differently to accelerate how we're using AI or other technologies to have an impact globally? So, I’m excited about that.”

Monarez also said that she’s looking forward to entering social media. She says she’s launching a Substack.

“It's very much a personal passion project,” she said.

Her Substack will be called, “The Road Best Traveled.” Monarez said it will be “an ode to individuals who have persevered through headwinds.”

She said it will focus on those in the health sector and other areas that have “faced that lonely road of having to make a decision: Do I continue to pursue this course, even though the odds are stacked against me?’”

Monarez aims to talk with “pivotal, visionary leaders and heroes” and ask them about their inspiration and how they managed to get through the toughest moments and made the right choices.

She said it’s easy to be cynical. But she said she wants to talk with “the people who are being optimistic, the people who continue to say: ‘Well, we can do this, we can do better. We can actually contribute extraordinary things to our fellow humans.’”

• Read more: How the government shutdown altered HLTH’s schedule