Dr. Celia Quinn is among dozens of Public Health Service officers being dispatched by HHS for stints at “priority” tribal health care facilities.

The federal government is sending New York City’s head of disease control to Arizona for a sudden 120-day assignment with the Indian Health Service, scrambling the Department of Health’s support system for outbreak response.Dr. Celia Quinn, who has been stationed at the city’s health department since 2014 as a field officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is expected to depart in coming days for the Hopi Health Care Center in Arizona and return in February, according to an internal email reviewed by POLITICO.As deputy commissioner for disease control, Quinn leads the department’s response to outbreaks of infectious diseases, with a resume that includes the Covid-19 pandemic and 2022 Mpox outbreak.One city health official said Quinn’s abrupt deployment left scarcely any time to prepare for her absence.“If we have an outbreak, then we’re fucked,” said the staffer, who was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.