Obama Picks NYC Health Commissioner to Head CDC

Thomas Frieden, formerly New York City’s health commissioner, is President Barack Obama’s pick as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the New York Times reported May 15.

During his seven years as health commissioner under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Frieden was best known for backing restaurant smoking bans, routine HIV testing during medical exams, and defending a program that distributes 35 million condoms each year.

Frieden is expected to take office next month and jump into ongoing debates on the swine flu vaccine and how to organize the agency — the latter after former CDC director Julie Gerberding’s reorganization stirred up criticism that the agency’s structure was overly bureaucratic.

“Morale is the weakest thing at the agency right now,” said James M. Hughes, former director of the CDC’s National Center for Infectious Diseases. “He has to really listen to people, and I think there are too many bureaucratic layers.”

“Health care reform also needs to be on his plate,” added Jeffrey P. Koplan, who served as CDC director from 1998 to 2002. “There is a huge opportunity there to improve public health, and it’s one in which any CDC director will want to be a player.”