The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is merging its Influenza Division with the Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Diseases Division to create the Influenza and Respiratory Viruses Division (IRVD).
The organizational change has been planned since the Biden administration. The new division is tasked with preventing disease, disability, and death through the control of seasonal epidemics and pandemic respiratory viral diseases. Its mandate includes disease surveillance, providing support and technical assistance to state and local health departments, and improving detection, diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments.
The reorganization “will strengthen operational efficiency, pandemic preparedness and laboratory capabilities while streamlining coordination across CDC, federal agencies, jurisdictions and external partners, and optimizing expertise and resources,” CDC senior public affairs specialist Belsie González, MPH, told CIDRAP News.
“There are no planned reductions in staff with this reorganization,” she said.
Combining flu and COVID-19 efforts into one division makes sense now that the latter has transitioned to a more cyclical pattern, similar to influenza and other respiratory diseases, said Washington University’s Jennifer E. Layden, MD, PhD, who headed the CDC’s data office until August 2025.
“There’s efficiencies in terms of how we do surveillance rather than having siloed systems that often lead to inefficiency,” said Layden. “We can have more coordinated surveillance when we look at it across viruses.”
Layden doubts most Americans will notice anything different in how the federal government handles respiratory disease surveillance and response. If anything, she said, federal public health efforts and collaboration with states might be more streamlined.
However, Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, the CDC’s former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told Stat News the timing is not ideal, as respiratory illness season is around the corner.
New leadership at FDA
In other federal health agency news, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has appointed four people to senior leadership roles. An agency press release said these appointments represent, “deliberate strategy to drive innovation and meaningful reform across FDA.”
Jared Seehafer, MS, has been selected to serve as the FDA’s first deputy commissioner for technology and artificial intelligence (AI). The press release said this newly created position, “underscores the Trump administration’s commitment to accelerating reliable AI innovation, modernizing federal technology, and ensuring an effective regulatory framework for emerging technologies.”
Seehafer co-founded the software company Enzyme, which helps medical device companies manage regulatory compliance. Enzyme was acquired by another software company, Greenlight Guru, last year.
Michael Davis, MD, PhD, will become the official director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). Previously, Davis served as the center’s acting director and deputy director. CDER oversees the safety, quality, and efficacy of generic and prescription medications, over-the-counter drugs, and biosimilars. It also makes recommendations to update drug labeling.
According to the press release, Davis will focus on increasing patient access to critical medicines, advancing drug development and evaluation, and strengthening domestic and global drug supply chains.
Karim Mikhail, MSc, is the new head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). He had been serving as acting director. The FDA says he’ll focus on modernizing regulatory frameworks to accelerate drug development, including those for rare diseases. And he’ll “work to strengthen vaccine safety surveillance with a commitment to transparency and scientific precision.”
Mikhail replaces Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, whose tenure at CBER was marked by controversy.
Mikhail’s LinkedIn profile shows that, prior to joining the Trump administration in 2025, he ran a biotech consulting firm and was based in West Palm Beach County, Florida.
Bret Koplow, PhD, JD, is now director of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). Based on his LinkedIn page, Koplow has been acting head of CTP since May 2025 and an FDA employee since 2011.
The press release says that Koplow’s priorities include promoting innovation and access to less harmful alternatives for adult smokers, and protecting American youth and minors from tobacco and nicotine dangers.
Before enrolling in the University of Chicago Law School in 1998, Koplow was a clinical psychologist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland.