When Silence Is Not an Option: A Public Health Resignation Letter - Voices #7
A CDC public health scientist resigns from his dream job, citing censorship, political interference, and the erosion of scientific integrity under the current administration.
We continue our series Voices from the Field: Meeting This Moment in Public Health in which we lift the voices of public health professionals reflecting on the realities we’re facing today - and the lessons learned across the arc of their careers.
A public health scientist has submitted his resignation from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after serving in the US Public Health Service for 18 years. In this unflinching message to agency leadership, he explains why the erosion of scientific freedom, the censorship of research, and a growing culture of fear have made it impossible for him to stay.
His letter is a stark reminder: when public health is compromised from within, even the most dedicated professionals may be forced to walk away. His words raise urgent questions about what is at stake when the integrity of our most trusted scientific institutions is undermined.
If you’d like to follow Dr. Harris’s lead and share your own perspective on public health in these times, I’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch!
When Silence Is Not an Option: A Public Health Resignation Letter
by Dr. Sean Harris, MD MPH
This letter was never meant to be written.
Dr. Sean Harris* has spent the past five years at CDC, working as a medical epidemiologist in what he once considered his dream job. A physician who trained with the prestigious Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), he has served for 18 years in the U.S. Public Health Service, combining clinical care with scientific work to improve health in communities across the United States.
As a medical student, he aspired to join the EIS and work for CDC because he believed in protecting public health through science. Although he found success in clinical roles, the call of epidemiology and public health never faded. Mid-career, he left a senior leadership role in medicine to pursue his passion, joining CDC as a staff epidemiologist focused on advancing health for often-overlooked populations.
Until recently, he never once doubted that decision. But after the election in November 2024, everything changed. As he witnessed what he describes as the erosion of scientific integrity and the silencing of evidence under the current administration, he found himself unable to continue in good conscience.
“It breaks my heart to see what is happening here,” Dr. Harris told The Public Health Workforce is Not OK, “but I can no longer endure it.”
Dr. Harris is returning to clinical medicine with no regrets. He considers his time at CDC to be the most rewarding chapter of his professional life. While he hasn’t ruled out future federal service, he believes that his skills and his values are now better aligned with clinical work outside the politicized landscape of federal public health.
He has asked The Public Health Workforce is Not OK to publish the following resignation letter he sent to CDC leadership.
Dear Center and Division Leadership:
It is with great sadness that I announce my resignation from my position at CDC, effective June X, 2025. Unfortunately, I can no longer work for this agency in good conscience. On multiple occasions, I was ordered to retract abstracts that were peer reviewed and accepted for presentation. I have been required to cease important research activities that the administration does not agree with. Before the inauguration, a paper that was cleared by our division was halted by the center in an act of pre-compliance. And when I documented my concerns about scientific misconduct and lapses in scientific integrity, I was told by my supervisor that it was inappropriate to put these concerns in writing.
In addition to direct efforts to impede my own research, I am witness to a wholesale effort to "disappear" entire classes of people as evidenced by efforts to root out activities related to transgender people or gender related inquiries. The active effort on part of this agency to comply with executive orders, while perhaps understandable, is not a culture that I can associate with.
Finally, I do not trust that the censorship I have already witnessed will end here. I believe this is only the beginning. One of the aspects of my job that I have so valued was the openness of CDC leadership to scientific inquiry and curiosity. I believe that culture is over and this new culture of fear, censorship and complete acquiescence to the priorities and whims of this administration will become the new norm. This is not a change I can abide. Nor is it one that is compatible with doing impeccable science and advancing public health.
Since the early days of my career, CDC was a beacon of scientific excellence and integrity to which I aspired. And it has been a privilege to have worked in my "dream job" for the last nearly 5 years. I remain proud as ever of all the work we have done at the CDC and of the brilliant colleagues I have had the privilege of working with. These scientists are among the finest people in the world and it has been an honor to serve with them. I truly hope that the agency emerges stronger through all of this and that they can continue the great work they have been doing in saving lives among some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Unfortunately, this is not a journey I can continue to share.
Thank you all for the opportunities and for the inspiration you all have given me to take my career in a direction that I had not foreseen. My path is all the richer for my time here. Please know that I will continue to dedicate my life and career to our work in other capacities. I wish you all the best in whatever future this agency has in store. I truly hope our paths cross again.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sean Harris, MD MPH
*Author name has been changed. Dr. Sean Harris is a physician and medical epidemiologist who has served in the US Public Health Service for nearly 18 years, including five years at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If you would like to follow Dr. Harris’ example by sharing your perspective on public health right now in our series Voices from the Field: Meeting This Moment in Public Health, please get in touch!
Action steps - a note from Katie
Thank you for reading this newsletter for and about the public health workforce. At this tumultuous time, I’m still really not sure where we go from here. But each time that I publish this newsletter and receive positive feedback from readers, my list of ideas for action steps continues to grow. I will start to compile these suggestions here. As we learn more, let’s keep adding to this list:
Do Dr. Harris’ words above inspire you? Would you also like to share your perspective on public health right now? Or write a love letter to public health? Got something to say to or about the public health workforce? Got big feelings about the RIFs or the RTO or the EOs or the BS? I would love to publish your words here as a step towards advocacy and support. Get in touch.
Let’s communicate what public health is and why it matters that so many of us have been forced to leave our jobs. What is your proudest moment in public health? Complete this form to submit your public health story to be used for advocacy.
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I close by emphasising what I said in a previous newsletter:
“At this time of uncertainty for the public health workforce, let’s remember our commitment to science and evidence and data. We know that validating emotions and baggage has a place too, but we need to be able to identify them and distinguish opinion from fact.
Let’s recommit to kindness and mutual support for the public health workforce and beyond. If leaders are trying to sow divisions among us, the best we can do is to respond with empathy, and by strengthening, connecting, and lifting up one another.
Right now, the best I can offer my fellow public health professionals is a place* to gather and reflect and share and vent and organize and ask questions and offer support to one another. We’re going to need that now more than ever.”
*This is a plug for the Public Health Connections Lounge on LinkedIn, where we seek to build community and conversation among public health professionals. Join us.
If you are new around here, Welcome to The Public Health Workforce is Not OK! In this newsletter, I share frank insights and start conversations about the experiences of building a public health career. You can get to know me here. You can find recaps of previous material here: Seasons 1-3; Season 4. Please subscribe and join the conversations in the Lounge. If cost is a barrier, please contact me directly. I’m committed to keeping this work accessible.
We hear the silence. We, the public, are concerned. We hear you.
I am greatly concerned that, like politics, this will just be one of many overwhelming issues facing the country and the average citizen has thrown their hands up in resignation.
I believe people understand it’s wrong but, outside of the medical community, people are starting to get callus to the many negative moves by this administration. Also, there is a fear to speak up. Please continue the good and proper fight.
I will as well!. It’s going to be a long 4 years.
I am greatly concerned.