STAT+: Top White House pandemic preparedness official resigns, officials say, in sign of broader disarray

When reports circulated in February that the White House had selected biosecurity expert Gerald Parker as the head of its Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, there was palpable relief among infectious disease experts. 

As former commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, his reported appointment seemed to speak to both the seriousness of his portfolio and a recognition that global cooperation, as well as coordination among government agencies, would be essential in the event of another pandemic. 

In recent weeks, according to officials who spoke with STAT, Parker resigned after roughly six months — and was never actually appointed the formal head of the pandemic preparedness office in the first place. The White House, the officials said, had never corrected earlier reports that it had appointed him to that office, one Trump had threatened during his reelection campaign to close. 

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