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Susan Monarez: “I joined the federal government [through the AAAS…”

Featuring: Susan Monarez, Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | National

Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez

Published November 18, 2025 | Video Starts at 16:25

It just happened that the AAAS Fellowship came through first. And so the Peace Corps process was taking longer. And so I took the AAAS Fellowship and I joined the federal government [through the AAAS Fellowship]. And it was an opportunity to continue to shape and to serve and to make sure that as I was now in a position of very sort of senior and … (16:25–16:29)

CLAIM

Asserts that Susan Monarez joined the federal government via the AAAS Fellowship.

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Susan Monarez

“One officer had lost his life right in our driveway [at CDC headquarters].”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 40:45-40:49
“There were five ongoing outbreaks at the time [of my appointment]: Ebola, Marburg virus, TB, measles, and H5N1.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 1:06:04-1:06:07
“The cost of private health insurance is doubling relative to wage increases.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 1:11:13-1:11:29
“I was doing some really fascinating work... looking at how to be able to diagnose individuals in austere environments, low middle income…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 13:55-14:11
“I would have never imagined that I would be in the White House shaping national level policy as to respond to the Ebola outbreak.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 20:19-20:27
“I was asked to step in as the acting [CDC director] to stabilize an organization that was still a little unbalanced just coming out of the…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 24:25-24:40
“I was coming out of one of the most newly established entities within the federal government, ARPA H.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 26:08-26:21
“The first priority [for CDC] was to make sure that we improved public confidence in public health.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 27:47-27:47
“The second [priority] was how do we modernize the public health infrastructure in CDC.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 27:52-27:59
“One of the goals that I had, that I just alluded to exactly to your point, is to be as transparent and open as we possibly could regarding…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 30:18-30:36
“CDC had been criticized for being slow, for being intransparent about some of the science and evidence it was using to, to drive decisions…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 30:50-31:13
“Our goals were to be able to improve, improve our transparency, our timeliness of communications and when we were commute in those…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 31:21-31:42
“One of my goals was to get out of Atlanta and get out of Washington D.C. and and have an opportunity to meet people physically and…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 32:06-32:23
“I do think that that is still something that is so significant and so important for what not only CDC needs to do, but public health more…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 32:53-33:15
“Federal marshals were coming through the buildings, they were breaking down doors.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 40:01-40:05
“There were so many bullet holes that had hit the windows and the buildings [at CDC headquarters].”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 40:13-40:19
“The shooting happened on August 8th.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 40:45-40:56
“We had a thorough understanding of all the safety and security implications [at CDC headquarters].”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 41:13-41:19
“My motivation for taking this position in the first place was to continue public service.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 47:51-47:57
“Scientific integrity was everything [in the labs at the University of Wisconsin and Stanford].”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 48:05-48:16
“I refused to rubber stamp vaccine policy changes or to fire experts and replace them with political loyalists.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 48:44-48:59
“Science and evidence change... that's not how you innovate, that's not how you create new discoveries.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 49:24-49:41
“To preordain and to compromise any type of approval process for any decision making absence, the evidence and the, the science associated…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 50:00-50:16
“I wasn't going to preordain or pre approve anything [regarding vaccine policy changes].”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 52:06-52:10
“To commit to approval regardless of the scientific evidence or underlying evidence... it just wasn't something that I could have possibly…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 52:50-53:03
“I'm very Worried about where we are... when patients are openly skeptical to seeing their clinician.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 55:44-56:21
“The scale and speed of inaccurate information is so profound and permeating that I worry about the gains we've made in health and Wellspan…”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 57:25-57:55
“It will become more and more challenging to provide wisdom in the noise.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 57:56-58:15
“It's going to take changes at the highest levels of the federal government, state government, and the technology sector.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 58:58-59:05
“We can't wait another 10 years to try to figure this out. We need to start figuring this out in the next year and two years.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 1:00:22-1:00:34
“Make sure that we have adequate health care provision to people who need it and who are often left behind.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 1:02:34-1:02:40
“We need innovation on policy, on how we communicate, what mechanisms, what tools, sustainability, scalability.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 1:02:41-1:02:51
“We also need innovation on how we think about collecting the data to really understand what's happening on the ground in public health.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 1:02:53-1:03:04
“Every two to three years there'll be something that emerges [like Covid].”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 1:07:01-1:07:07
“The short period of time that I was at the CDC that did not have any particular influence on at least me in that leadership position.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 1:09:19-1:09:29
“Access to high-quality health care for many Americans with lower incomes has been a challenge.”
Bridging Innovation and Trust: A Conversation with former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez | Uploaded November 18, 2025 | 1:11:48-1:12:00