Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned Jan. 31 after reports surfaced on the public affairs website Politico that she purchased shares of Japan Tobacco about 1 month after becoming the agency’s director.
Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald
Dr. Fitzgerald, an ob.gyn., also bought stock in Merck & Co., Bayer, and Humana after joining the Trump Administration in July 2017, according to the report. Financial disclosure records confirm that she sold the tobacco stock in October and “all of her stock holdings above $1,000 by Nov. 21, more than 4 months after she became CDC director,” according to the Politico report.
According to a spokesperson for the Health and Human Services department, “This morning Secretary Azar accepted Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald’s resignation as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Dr. Fitzgerald owns certain complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC Director. 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. The Secretary thanks Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald for her service and wishes her the best in all her endeavors,” according to a report on CNBC.