In a 51–47 vote along party lines, the Senate confirmed Monarez as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is the first nominee for CDC director to be required to get Senate confirmation, following a 2022 law requiring it. She is also the first person to serve in the role without a medical degree since 1953.

Susan Monarez, Ph.D., was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ending a roughly four-month period in which the agency did not have a | The scientist and longtime civil servant,

Susan Monarez is the first director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to require Senate confirmation. She's also the first director without a medical degree in more than 70 years.