CDC director resigns over financial conflicts

January 31, 2018 at 9:35 a.m.

by MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2014 file photo, Brenda Fitzgerald, Georgia Department of Public Health commissioner, left, and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal respond to questions in Atlanta. U.S. officials announced that Fitzgerald, the director of the nation’s top public health agency has resigned because of financial conflicts of interest. On Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials said Fitzgerald’s complex financial interests had caused conflicts of interest that made it difficult to do her job. Alex Azar, who was sworn in as head of the department Monday, accepted her resignation. (AP Photo/David Tulis, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2014 file photo, Brenda Fitzgerald, Georgia Department of Public Health commissioner, left, and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal respond to questions in Atlanta. U.S. officials announced that Fitzgerald, the director of the nation’s top public health agency has resigned because of financial conflicts of interest. On Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials said Fitzgerald’s complex financial interests had caused conflicts of interest that made it difficult to do her job. Alex Azar, who was sworn in as head of the department Monday, accepted her resignation. (AP Photo/David Tulis, File)

NEW YORK -- U.S. officials have announced that the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has resigned because of financial conflicts of interest.

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Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald had been in the job since July.

A statement Wednesday from the Department of Health and Human Services said Fitzgerald's complex financial interests had caused conflicts of interest that made it difficult to do her job. Alex Azar, who was sworn in as head of the department Monday, accepted her resignation.

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When Fitzgerald took the job, she owned a range of stocks, including holdings in beer and soda companies, the tobacco company Philip Morris International, and a number of health care companies. She said she sold some but still has others because of financial restrictions that prevent her from selling them.

NW News on 02/01/2018

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