CDC director resigns over investments in tobacco, drug, health companies

Enlarge (credit: Getty | Matt Morton)

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald. (credit: Getty | Washington Post)

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald has resigned as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention following a report by Politico that she bought shares in a tobacco company just months into the job. The report also noted that she invested in drug, health insurance, and food companies.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar accepted her resignation this morning, according to a statement by a spokesperson for the department.

"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," the statement read. "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."

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