Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired top infectious disease scientist Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, three weeks after she filed a whistleblower complaint against Donald Trump’s administration.
Marrazzo, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), alleged that the Trump administration had endangered research subjects, defied court orders, and undermined vaccine research.
Highlights
- HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired infectious disease scientist Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo after her whistleblower complaint against Trump’s administration.
- Marrazzo alleged the Trump administration endangered research subjects, defied court orders, and undermined vaccine research.
- The lawsuit options for Marrazzo are limited due to weakened federal protections for whistleblowers under the Trump administration.
Marrazzo filed a joint complaint on September 4 on behalf of scientists who alleged they had been removed from leadership positions after objecting to efforts to undermine vaccines.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired a top scientist after she filed a whistleblower complaint
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They said there was an administration-wide “hostility” towards vaccines.
Marrazzo learned of her dismissal on Wednesday in a letter dated September 26 from Kennedy. In the letter, he said he had the authority to appoint and remove directors at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to the New York Times.
“In my capacity as secretary, I have decided to terminate your appointment as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease,” he wrote.
Marrazzo had been placed on indefinite leave in April, a move her lawyer, Debra S. Katz, called retaliatory.
“The Trump Administration terminated Dr. Marrazzo for her advocacy on behalf of critical health research and for her support of the overwhelming body of evidence that shows vaccines are safe and effective,” Katz said in a statement.
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In her own statement, Marrazzo said: “My termination, unfortunately, shows that the leaders of H.H.S. and the National Institutes of Health do not share my commitment to scientific integrity and public health.”
“Congress must act to protect scientific research from those who would serve political interests first.”
Marrazzo became the first openly gay person to lead NIAID when she replaced Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2023.
The whistleblower complaint she filed with Dr Kathleen Neuzil, then the director of the NIH’s Fogarty International Center, highlighted growing internal tension at NIH over vaccine policy.
It described how senior officials, including Principal Deputy Director Dr. Matthew Memoli, questioned the value of vaccines in internal meetings and steered funding away from vaccine research.
Dr Marrazzo had alleged that vaccine research was undermined by the Trump administration
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Neuzil also left NIH after being placed on administrative leave. She said in her complaint that her removal came after she objected to “dangerous and unscientific views” about vaccines at the agency’s top levels.
The Department of Health and Human Services denied the allegations, calling them “false.”
Marrazzo’s dismissal comes amid a broader shake-up of public health leadership. In August, the Trump administration dismissed Susan Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after disagreements over vaccine policy.
Several CDC officials resigned afterward.
Image credits: NIH-NIAID/Getty Images
The administration also suspended scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency who criticized health and environmental policies.
In the aftermath of her firing, Marrazzo has limited legal options. Her lawyer said the Trump administration “eviscerated” the federal agency that protects whistleblowers, leaving her with “no real avenues of recourse.”