Tom Price, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, resigned Friday, the New York Times reports. The department includes the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
As the Times notes, Price had been under increasing pressure to resign following revelations that he spent at least $400,000 on private flights. Price, an orthopedic surgeon and a former representative from Georgia, was confirmed as health secretary in February.
Don Wright, a deputy assistant secretary for health and the director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, is to serve acting HHS secretary, according to NPR.
A number of names are already being floating as Price's permanent successor, it adds. On the list of people being considered as the next health secretary are Seema Verma, a protégé of Vice President Mike Pence who currently leads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Scott Gottlieb, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner, the Associated Press reports.