Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, resigned this morning after it was revealed she had invested in stocks for tobacco, pharmaceutical and health companies.
According to Politico, Fitzgerald purchased the tobacco stock after she took the position at the CDC. The conflict of interest is at odds with the CDC’s mission of ending the use of tobacco.
According to that report, Fitzgerald “bought tens of thousands of dollars in new stock holdings in at least a dozen companies,” including Japan Tobacco, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world. She also bought stock in pharmaceutical companies Merck and Bayer, as well as health insurance provider Humana.
Fitzgerald, an obstetrician and gynecologist from Georgia, was appointed last summer by Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Tom Price, who was forced to resign in September after it was reported that he was using tax payer money to fly on private planes
