New
director takes helm of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
On July 3 Julie
Gerberding was confirmed as director of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC Dr. Gerberding has been serving as the agency's
acting director for science and one of four members of the management
team that has been running the agency since Jeffrey Koplan resigned
in March. Along with National Center for Infectious Diseases Director
James Hughes, Gerberding has headed the agency's terrorism response
in addition to her ongoing duties. Public health leaders have praised
her grasp of the obstacles facing CDC, including educating first responders
and health professionals in preparation for large-scale bioemergencies,
whether due to terrorism or natural emergencies.
Over the last few months, Gerberding has worked to improve CDC's communication
with media to ensure reports on public health threats were accurate,
particularly regarding the anthrax bioterrorism events.
The first woman to head the agency, Gerberding joined CDC in 1998 as
director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, where she
developed patient safety initiatives and other programs to prevent infections,
antimicrobial resistance and medical errors. An infectious disease specialist,
she is on leave from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF),
where she is an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology and
biostatistics. She also holds appointment asassociate clinical professor
of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta.
Gerberding has degrees in chemistry and biology and an M.D. from Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She completed her internship
and residency in internal medicine at UCSF and earned a Master's in
Public Health from UC Berkeley in 1990.
Source: Washington Fax, July 3 2002
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