SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday introduced a brand new California-led public well being initiative, tapping former U.S. Centers for Disease Control 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 will likely 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 Health Network Innovation Exchange, 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 Health Network Innovation Exchange is predicted to convey collectively the very best science, the very best instruments, and the very best minds to advance public well being,” Newsom stated in a press release Monday. “By bringing on skilled scientific leaders to accomplice on this launch, we’re strengthening collaboration and laying the groundwork for a contemporary public well being infrastructure that can supply 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 personal sector partnerships to raised combine healthcare information techniques and allow quicker illness surveillance.
“I’m deeply excited to convey my expertise in well being expertise and innovation to help PHNIX,” Monarez stated in a press release 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 world public well being medical advisor for PHNIX. Newsom’s workplace additionally introduced it’ll work with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, founder and chief govt of Your Local Epidemiologist. Jetelina will advise the California Department of Public Health on constructing belief in public well being.
Monarez and Houry each described extraordinary turmoil contained in the nation’s well being businesses throughout congressional hearings, telling senators in September that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and political advisors rebuffed information supporting the security and efficacy of vaccines. Monarez was fired after simply 29 days on the job. She stated Kennedy advised her to resign if she didn’t log out on new unsupported vaccine suggestions. Kennedy has described Monarez as admitting to him that she is “untrustworthy,” a declare Monarez has denied via her legal professional.
“Dramatic and unfounded modifications in federal coverage, funding, and scientific observe 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 a press release. “I’m thrilled to work with these advisors to catalyze our efforts to guide 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 identified.
Newsom’s workplace stated the California initiative would construct on beforehand introduced public well being partnerships, such because the West Coast Health Alliance.
