The Department of Health and Human Services said that Secretary Alex Azar will name HIV/AIDS specialist Robert R. Redfield, M.D., as the 18th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Secretary Azar stated:

Image/James Gathany
Image/James Gathany

“Dr. Redfield has dedicated his entire life to promoting public health and providing compassionate care to his patients, and we are proud to welcome him as director of the world’s premier epidemiological agency. Dr. Redfield’s scientific and clinical background is peerless: As just one example, during his two-decade tenure at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, he made pioneering contributions to advance our understanding of HIV/AIDS. His more recent work running a treatment network in Baltimore for HIV and Hepatitis C patients also prepares him to hit the ground running on one of HHS and CDC’s top priorities, combating the opioid epidemic.”

“Furthermore, all of us at HHS are grateful to Dr. Anne Schuchat for her service as Acting Director at CDC, especially during this year’s severe flu season. We look forward to CDC continuing its important work on the opioid epidemic and America’s many other pressing public health challenges.”

Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine, co-founder and director of the Institute of Human Virology, Robert C. Gallo, MD said, “Dr. Robert Redfield, a close colleague for more than 40 years, is an excellent choice to be head of the CDC.

“While it will be a big loss for the Institute, we are at a time in our nation’s history when Dr. Redfield’s skills will best be utilized as head of the CDC. He has been an outstanding leader as head of the Institute’s Clinical Care and Research Division, and a major force in establishing our clinical public health programs in Baltimore to confront the HIV and hepatitis C epidemics in our City and State. With his leadership, Dr. Redfield has also contributed greatly to the Institute’s global health programs.”

Dr. Robert R. Redfield has been a public health leader actively engaged in clinical research and clinical care of chronic human viral infections and infectious diseases, especially HIV, for more than 30 years.

He served as the founding director of the Department of Retroviral Research within the U.S. Military’s HIV Research Program, and retired after 20 years of service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Following his military service, he co-founded the University of Maryland’s Institute of Human Virology with Dr. William Blattner and Dr. Robert C. Gallo and served as the Chief of Infectious Diseases and Vice Chair of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Dr. Redfield served as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS from 2005 to 2009, and was appointed as Chair of the International Subcommittee from 2006 to 2009.

He is a past member of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health, the Fogarty International Center Advisory Board at the National Institutes of Health, and the Advisory Anti-Infective Agent Committee of the Food and Drug Administration.

Related: