President-Elect Biden Names Mass General Hospital Doctor Rochelle Walensky As CDC Director
BOSTON (CBS) – The chief of infectious diseases at Mass General Hospital is set to become the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Dr. Rochelle Walensky for the post, he announced Monday morning.
Walensky is also a professor at Harvard Medical School.
Her areas of expertise include AIDS and HIV.
Senate confirmation is not required for the CDC director position.
Walensky was one of several people named to health team roles in the Biden administration on Monday.
"This team of world-class medical experts and public servants will be ready on day one to mobilize every resource of the federal government to expand testing and masking, oversee the safe, equitable, and free distribution of treatments and vaccines, re-open schools and businesses safely, lower prescription drug and other health costs and expand affordable health care to all Americans, and rally the country and restore the belief that there is nothing beyond America's capacity if we do it together," Biden said in a statement.
Walensky tweeted Monday about her new role.
"I began my medical career at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and I've spent my life ever since working to research, treat, and combat infectious diseases," she said. "I'm honored to be called to lead the brilliant team at the CDC. We are ready to combat this virus with science and facts."