• Posted April 24, 2026

Former Tobacco Executive Takes CDC Role

A new hire at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is drawing backlash from public health experts who worry about his influence in the industry.

Stephen Sayle, named last month as the CDC’s deputy director for legislative affairs, previously worked for Fontem Ventures, a British tobacco company subsidiary. 

The company focuses on products like e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches.

In an editorial published in the journalTobacco Control, Dr. Timothy McAfee, a former head of the CDC’s Office of Smoking and Health, called the appointment “unprecedented.”

“It should be 100% clear that we don’t want former tobacco industry executives working inside the nation’s public health agencies helping influence policy adoption,” McAfee told STAT News in an email.

Others also said Sayle's employment breaks earlier promises from U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “shut the revolving door” between industry and government, STAT said.

Federal officials defended the appointment.

Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), told STAT that Sayle brings “more than 25 years of experience working at senior levels of the federal government and will be a valuable asset at the CDC to ensure effective coordination with Congress."

The appointment comes at a time when many public health advocates are more worried about the administration's tobacco policy. 

Some officials pointed to actions like dropping plans to ban menthol cigarettes and taking a more favorable stance on vaping.

Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy, managing attorney at the anti-tobacco group Action on Smoking and Health, said Sayle’s hire adds to those worries.

“This is just another step further in that direction of failing to protect Americans from the harms of tobacco, and in fact going in the opposite direction," she told STAT.

Jeff Hauser of the Revolving Door Project also criticized the appointment. In an email to STAT, he warned that you "can hardly imagine a more nihilistic and disturbing message to send than turning public health policy over, in part, to someone who has dedicated much of their career to maximizing the consumption of inherently unhealthy products."

Officials said Sayle does not have any tobacco company stocks. But, according to McAfee, this new appointment is “opening a door that has been closed for decades, and letting the fox into the henhouse with open arms.” 

More information

You can browse current CDC leadership on the agency's website.

SOURCE: STAT News, April 22, 2026