CDC director resigns after trading tobacco stock in apparent conflict of interest

Healthcare IT News: Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, has resigned her post as director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after it was reported that she bought shares of a tobacco company a month into her tenure. The CDC is a federal agency dedicated in part to preventing smoking and smoking-related ailments, such as emphysema and lung cancer. As tobacco is the most prevalent cause of preventable disease, Fitzgerald’s trading of tobacco stock represented a conflict of interest that resulted in her resignation.

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