The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned Wednesday — a day after a report revealed she bought stock in a tobacco company soon after being nominated to the post.
Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald has been with the federal health agency, which operates a number of anti-smoking programs and conducts research on the leading cause of preventable death, since July.
Shortly after taking command of the CDC, Fitzgerald, 71, bought tens of thousands of dollars in new stocks, including as much as $15,000 of Japan Tobacco, a global company that owns the international selling rights for brands like Winston, Camel and American Spirit cigarettes, Politico reported on Tuesday.
The report revealed that the day after she bought stock in Japan Tobacco — Aug. 9, 2017 — she toured the CDC’s Tobacco Laboratory that studies how chemicals found in tobacco damage health, the website reported, citing her calendars obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
She sold her shares in the tobacco companies on Oct. 26, the report said.
Newly installed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar accepted Fitzgerald’s resignation Wednesday, spokesman Matt Lloyd said in a statement.
“Dr. Fitzgerald owns certain complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC Director,” the statement said. “Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period.”
With Post wires