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The fallout from mass layoffs at FDA, NIH, and CDC

April 5, 2025
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FDA Commissioner Marty MakaryKayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary gets off to a bruising start as agency is wracked by layoffs

Makary's first official day as FDA commissioner began with employees in tears, learning from security guards that they were losing their jobs. The news release announcing the start of his tenure points readers to a press office that, after large-scale layoffs, basically no longer exists. His first email to staff summarized his resume. Read more.

By Lizzy Lawrence and Sarah Todd



NIH Director Jay BhattacharyaAndrew Harnik/Getty Images

Five NIH institute directors and numerous lab heads ousted in unprecedented shake-up

The layoffs affected people across the NIH's 27 institutes and centers, including officials who help guide how the world's largest funder of biomedical research makes decisions about what diseases to study and what medicines to develop, as well as staff who made the organization operate day to day and communicated with the public. Read more.

By Megan Molteni, Jonathan Wosen, and Jason Mast


A sign stands at an entrance to the main campus of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in AtlantaJeff Amy/AP

At CDC, Trump administration's job cuts wipe out wide array of specialists

Scientists dedicated to tobacco control, injury prevention, workplace safety, birth defects, reproductive health, and substance abuse woke on Tuesday to news they had received dreaded "reduction-in-force" notices. Read more.

By Helen Branswell and Sarah Owermohle


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