Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, head of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has resigned over a report that she had bought stock in a tobacco company.
The federal health agency that Dr Fitzgerald had been with since July 2017, operate a number of anti-smoking programs.
Following her appointment to the agency, Dr Fitzgerald bought thousands of dollars worth of stocks including stocks in Japan Tobacco, a global company that owns many prominent brands.
The report showed that Dr Fitzgerald was touring the agency’s tobacco laboratory at the same time she had bought the Japan Tobacco stock.
She later sold her stocks in October 2017.
A statement from Health and Human Services spokesman Matt Lloyd said: “Dr. Fitzgerald owns certain complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC Director”.
“Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period.”