A study conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) and Harvard University and published in the journal Health Affairs found that 54 percent of the staff members, who were employed at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and left the federal health agency during 2004-2020, went on to work for the pharmaceutical industry.
According to the study:
Exiting staff went to not only biopharmaceutical and device manufacturers, but also health insurers, information and communication technology firms, real estate firms with medical property portfolios, and consulting firms.
The study researchers, Genevieve Kanter, PhD and Daniel Carpenter, PhD, stated that the “high rates of exit” to pharmaceutical companies suggests that CDC employees, as well as employees of other operating divisions of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS), are highly valued and make them attractive hires for pharmaceutical companies, and that this value could “derive from policy expertise, extended professional networks, or prestige.”
But Drs. Kanter and Carpenter also pointed out that there is concern that some of the value of people who used to work for the CDC may come from the perceived “potential influence” that these hires can “exert on former colleagues post-departure, or from favorable actions taken before departure, that could compromise agency decision making.
Hellbound and Down 