The U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, as the federal agency adjusts to widespread layoffs and cancellations of public health programs.

Susan Monarez will take the helm as director of the Atlanta-based CDC following a 51 to 47 vote, after Republicans rallied behind the president’s pick. She was the acting director when Dave Weldon, Trump’s original choice, was abruptly pulled after members expressed concerns over his vaccine views.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a PhD in microbiology, she’s the first person without a medical degree to lead the nation’s premier public health agency since 1953.

Monarez, who joined the CDC in January, was the first proposed director to underg

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