(Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired two top leaders at the department, chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and deputy chief of staff for policy Hannah Anderson, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. Matt Buckham, who currently serves as Kennedy's White House liaison at the HHS, will serve as acting chief of staff effective immediately, the spokesperson said. In his current role, Buckham oversees the recruitment and onboarding of political appointees across HHS. Since taking over as health secretary, Kennedy has proposed overhauling the department by reorganizing several HHS agencies and substantially cutting their workforces. This month, a federal judge blocked the proposal to implement the restructuring. HHS oversees the work of health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health, whose chief operating officer, Eric Schnabel, was fired on Monday. The Washington Post was first to report Schnabel's firing, which Reuters has confirmed. Kennedy, who for decades has sown doubt about the safety of vaccines contrary to evidence and research by scientists, in June fired all 17 members of an independent panel of experts that advises the CDC on vaccine policy, and replaced them with seven new hand-picked members. The firings on Wednesday were first reported by CNN. Kennedy has not decided on permanent replacements to fill these roles, according to the CNN report. Melanson and Anderson were ousted after only a few months on their jobs, and it was unclear whether there was a single event that prompted the firings, the report said. An HHS spokesperson declined to provide any additional details about the staff reorganization. Anderson previously worked as a health policy adviser for the Senate Health Committee. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment on LinkedIn. Flick Melanson, who held senior positions at the HHS during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term, could not immediately be reached for comment. Schnabel, a retired Army veteran who joined the NIH in March 2025, most recently worked at a fitness and wellness company, according to his LinkedIn profile. An NIH staff member with direct knowledge of his departure confirmed Schnabel had left the agency. The Washington Post linked his departure to a probe of a contract that would have benefited his wife, Trish Schnabel, a licensed therapist who sometimes goes by her maiden name, Trish Duffy. The NIH source told Reuters Schnabel's wife was intended to serve as an autism consultant as part of a broader $3.3-million contract with Argo Chasing LLC, an advisory firm based in Shreveport, Louisiana, focused on project management services. According to a review of the non-competitive contract, issued on July 3 through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the grant was for "project coordination and subject matter expert support for high-level strategic research security, counterintelligence, autism and execution service." Eric and Trish Schnabel did not respond to requests for comment. An HHS spokesperson declined to comment. (Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi, Bhanvi Satija and Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago, Michael Erman in New York and Chad Terhune in Los Angeles; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Shinjini Ganguli and Rod Nickel)
