Left: Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases). Right: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hosts a fireside chat (John Lamparski/Sipa USA/Sipa via AP Images). Inset: President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room at the White House Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Washington (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP).
A onetime top federal health official is suing the Trump administration over her termination, alleging she was "retaliated against" because she opposed "reckless actions" undertaken by the government.
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), argued in a 31-page complaint filed in federal court in Maryland that, upon the current regime taking office in January, "scientific integrity" was sacrificed in favor of "unscientific and unsupported political biases." And it is only because she spoke out against this, she contends, that the prestigious position was taken away from her.
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Marrazzo became NIAID director in August 2023, replacing Dr. Anthony Fauci as the leader of the institute. Her appointment "was met with great acclaim by the scientific community," according to her complaint, and she "excelled" in the role, earning "the highest possible performance ratings."
When President Donald Trump returned to office earlier this year and appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), however, things began to change.
New leaders at HHS and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under which NIAID resides, "began censoring scientific research, subordinating scientific integrity to unscientific and unsupported political preferences, and undermining NIH's mission to further scientific research," she writes. Perhaps most drastic was the altered position on vaccines, with new leadership implementing policies "in furtherance of their anti-vaccine ("anti-vax") political agenda" in direct contradiction of "decades of incontrovertible scientific evidence."
HHS also began cutting research funding for grants that contained the words "diversity," "equity," or "inclusion" — actions in line with Trump's executive agenda but which Marrazzo deemed "reckless" and representing a "substantial and specific danger to public health and safety." The decisions significantly affected her work, she recounts, as "the majority of NIH grants and contracts canceled in 2025 were in the area of infectious diseases."
But Marrazzo did not intend to keep her disagreements — and fears — to herself. Rather, she became a whistleblower — "object[ing] to the censorship of scientific research" and destruction of scientific integrity "for political reasons" in emails, conversations, and meetings with her bosses in NIH and HHS.
As she tells it, her opposition to the new administration's priorities resulted in a "blatantly retaliatory act." She was removed from her position as NIAID director and placed on administrative leave pending a reassignment to the Indian Health Service (IHS). She had been shut out, she says: directed not to return to work, barred from NIH facilities and equipment, and never actually reassigned.
But Marrazzo, again, did not relent. On Sept. 4, months after her proposed reassignment, she appealed to the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel (OSC), alleging that "HHS retaliated against her for her protected whistleblowing by placing her on administrative leave." She also spoke with national media outlets, both in print and on television, about her complaints and concerns with where public health was heading.
On Sept. 26, the relegated NIAID leader received a letter from Kennedy. She had been fired.
Marrazzo maintains that the government officials acted unlawfully against her in numerous ways. For one thing, she says, they violated her First Amendment rights because they fired her over her "protected speech." For another, they violated the Fifth Amendment because they terminated her without due process, she alleges.
She is seeking to be reinstated to her position and receive back pay.
One section of Marrazzo's complaint summarizes the perceived wrongs she faced.
"HHS removed Dr. Marrazzo from her position as NIAID Director and terminated her employment because she raised concerns—both internally within HHS and externally to the OSC and the media—about government actions that she reasonably believed constituted a violation of law, rule, or regulation; gross mismanagement; a gross waste of funds; an abuse of authority; a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety; and censorship related to scientific research or the integrity of the scientific process," reads the filing. "The concerns she raised constitute protected activity under the Whistleblower Protection Act ("WPA"), and her disclosures to the OSC and the media about matters of public concern are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution."
Law&Crime has reached out to HHS for comment on the lawsuit.
