SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday introduced a brand new California-led public well being initiative, tapping former U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention officers who publicly clashed with the Trump administration, together with the previous company chief who warned that the nation’s public well being system was headed to “a really harmful place.”
Newsom stated the initiative shall be led by Dr. Susan Monarez, the previous CDC director, and Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer. The pair will lead the Public Well being Community Innovation Change, or PHNIX, which the governor’s workplace stated will “modernize public well being infrastructure and preserve belief in science-driven decision-making.”
The initiative was created to enhance the techniques that detect and examine public well being developments and construct a contemporary public-health spine that connects information, expertise and funding throughout states.
“The Public Well being Community Innovation Change is predicted to carry collectively one of the best science, one of the best instruments, and one of the best minds to advance public well being,” Newsom stated in an announcement Monday. “By bringing on knowledgeable scientific leaders to associate on this launch, we’re strengthening collaboration and laying the groundwork for a contemporary public well being infrastructure that can provide belief and stability in scientific information not simply throughout California, however nationally and globally.”
Monarez will function strategic well being expertise and funding advisor for the initiative, serving to advance non-public sector partnerships to raised combine healthcare information techniques and allow quicker illness surveillance. The hirings had been first reported by The New York Occasions.
“I’m deeply excited to carry my expertise in well being expertise and innovation to assist PHNIX,” Monarez stated in an announcement shared by Newsom’s workplace. “California has a unprecedented focus of expertise, expertise, and funding, and this effort is about placing these strengths to work for the general public good — modernizing how public well being operates, accelerating innovation, and constructing a more healthy, extra resilient future for all Californians.”
Houry was named senior regional and international public well being medical advisor for PHNIX. Newsom’s workplace additionally introduced it can work with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, founder and chief govt of Your Native Epidemiologist. Jetelina will advise the California Division of Public Well being on constructing belief in public well being.
Monarez and Houry each described extraordinary turmoil contained in the nation’s well being companies throughout congressional hearings, telling senators in September that Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and political advisors rebuffed information supporting the protection and efficacy of vaccines. Monarez was fired after simply 29 days on the job. She stated Kennedy instructed her to resign if she didn’t log off on new unsupported vaccine suggestions. Kennedy has described Monarez as admitting to him that she is “untrustworthy,” a declare Monarez has denied by way of her legal professional.
“Dramatic and unfounded modifications in federal coverage, funding, and scientific follow have created uncertainty and instability in public well being and well being care,” Dr. Erica Pan, CDPH director and state public well being officer, stated in an announcement. “I’m thrilled to work with these advisors to catalyze our efforts to steer a sustainable future for public well being. California is stepping as much as coordinate and construct the scaffolding we have to navigate this second.”
The salaries of the brand new positions weren’t instantly recognized.
Newsom’s workplace stated the California initiative would construct on beforehand introduced public well being partnerships, such because the West Coast Well being Alliance.
