EFN

Dr. Richard Besser was recently appointed as the interim director of the CDC, after Dr. Julie Gerberding, the previous director, resigned. Gerberding stepped down after the change in administration on January 20th, along with a few other officials, though she had headed the department for six years. William Gimson III replaced Gerberding until an interim director could be chosen, and has since returned to his post as chief operating officer. Before being named the interim director, Besser was head of a department that organizes the country’s response to bio-terrorism as well as the health after-effects of any terrorist attacks. He was most likely chosen as interim director instead of Gimson because Gimson is not an actual doctor.

Besser, trained as a pediatrician, is 49 years old, and a longtime employee of the CDC. He went to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he received his BA in Economics, after which he continued on to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his medical degree. He served in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the CDC, tracking food-borne illnesses. He currently oversees the department that is in charge of responding to dangers from biological, natural, and infectious sources, among other things. In this capacity, he helped coordinate the organization’s responses to Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. He has written and contributed to over 100 publications and presentations, and has received many awards for his work in the public heath as well as volunteer fields. He will remain as acting director until a new director is chosen, which won’t happen until after Tom Daschle, the Health and Human Services nominee for secretary has been approved and is able to make the permanent appointments. Daschle would be replacing former HHS secretary Michael Leavitt.

The appointment of Besser seems safe to many, as his specialty is terrorism response. He is also replacing a highly-criticized director, Dr. Julie Gerberding. Gerberding, the first female director of the CDC made herself unpopular by supposedly sacrificing science for political agenda, as she carried the Bush administration’s views into the scientific arena, though she did make some advances in AIDS combat and bioterrorism research. Though regarded as an effective communicator, she was lambasted for acting too slowly to help some people after the 2005 hurricanes. She submitted her resignation late in 2008, at the request of the Obama transition team, and it was accepted earlier this month.

There is some wonderment as to whether or not Besser will permanently fill the position, though in all of its official statements, the CDC says no more than that he will serve until a permanent director is named.