U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on 16 July fired two senior advisers — chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and deputy chief of staff for policy Hannah Anderson — in the latest shake-up of the department’s leadership. No reason was given for the dismissals, which come only months after the pair were installed. Kennedy appointed Matt Buckham, his White House liaison responsible for recruiting political appointees, as acting chief of staff with immediate effect, according to an HHS spokesperson. Permanent replacements have not been named. The personnel moves extend a pattern of turnover under Kennedy, who has proposed a sweeping reorganization of HHS and recently removed the National Institutes of Health’s chief operating officer and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s entire vaccine advisory panel. A federal judge earlier this month blocked elements of his restructuring plan, and the department has declined to elaborate on how the latest firings fit into its broader overhaul.