Nancy Snyderman is stepping down from her position as chief medical editor at NBC News, the network announced in a release Thursday.
Last year, Snyderman took a break from her job at the suggestion of her network after she “violated a self-imposed quarantine after being potentially exposed to Ebola in Liberia,” according to The New York Times. She subsequently apologized for breaking the quarantine. After she got back from reporting in Liberia, Snyderman and her crew “were spotted getting takeout food from a New Jersey restaurant,” according to The Huffington Post.
In the statement from the network, Snyderman attributed her departure partially to her experience covering the Ebola epidemic “and then becoming part of the story” when she got back from her assignment:
I stepped out of the OR a few years ago and it is now time for me to return to my roots, so I am stepping down from my position as Chief Medical Editor at NBC News. Covering the Ebola epidemic last fall in Liberia, and then becoming part of the story upon my return to the U.S., contributed to my decision that now is the time to return to academic medicine.
Snyderman will soon begin teaching at “at a major U.S. medical school,” according to the announcement.
Here’s Snyderman’s statement:
I stepped out of the OR a few years ago and it is now time for me to return to my roots, so I am stepping down from my position as Chief Medical Editor at NBC News. Covering the Ebola epidemic last fall in Liberia, and then becoming part of the story upon my return to the U.S., contributed to my decision that now is the time to return to academic medicine. I will be shortly taking up a faculty position at a major U.S. medical school. More needs to be done to communicate medicine and science to our viewers and citizens, especially in times of crisis, and with my experiences in the field and on air, that is going to be a priority for me.
I have loved my nine years at NBC and I am proud of the work my team has done. Very few people get the chance to combine two professions and I have appreciated the chance to inform the public about medical updates and the plight of so many in other countries. Every moment has been an honor.
