NYTimes.com Article: Infectious Disease Expert Will Lead National Health Agency

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Infectious Disease Expert Will Lead National Health Agency

July 3, 2002

By WARREN E. LEARY

WASHINGTON, July 2 - Dr. L. Gerberding, an infectious

disease expert noted for her work against AIDS and anthrax,

will be the next director of the federal Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, administration officials

said today.

Dr. Gerberding, a 46-year-old physician and research

scientist, would become the first woman to lead the

centers, the nation's principal public health agency.

Tommy G. , the health and human services secretary,

will announce Dr. Gerberding's appointment on Wednesday at

a ceremony at the agency's Atlanta headquarters, health

officials at the administration said.

Dr. Gerberding, who is now acting deputy director for

science at the agency, helped lead the centers' efforts to

investigate and contain the spread of deadly anthrax spores

through the mail last year.

As the centers began to understand the anthrax problem and

developed a strategy for dealing with it, Dr. Gerberding

assumed a larger role and spoke for the agency.

The agency's previous director, Dr. Koplan, left

the job on March 31. Dr. Koplan defended the centers'

response to the anthrax crisis, saying the agency performed

well in the unprecedented situation of a bioterrorist

attack.

Federal health officials said Dr. Gerberding's leadership

during the anthrax attacks made her the leading candidate

for the job.

" She rose to the task with the anthrax scare and gained a

lot of credibility, " said Dr. Gail H. Cassel, vice

president for scientific affairs at Eli Lilly & Company and

a member of the director's advisory committee for the

disease control centers.

" She can think quickly, respond quickly, has good judgment

and is very articulate, " Dr. Cassel said in an interview.

" She is also knowledgeable enough to admit when she doesn't

know something and seek good advice. "

Dr. Gerberding is a graduate of Case Western Reserve

University and its medical school. She also holds a

master's degree in public health from the University of

California.

Before joining the federal disease centers in 1998, Dr.

Gerberding practiced at San Francisco General Hospital,

where she eventually became director of epidemiology, and

taught at the University of California campus there.

Dr. Gerberding first gained attention more than 15 years

ago as a pioneer in studies on the infection of health care

workers with the virus that causes AIDS.

She was one of the first to document the number of hospital

workers stuck by needles and other sharp medical

instruments that can lead to infections by the AIDS virus

and other disease agents, and she helped write guidelines

to reduce this risk.

Dr. Lurie of Public Citizen's Health Research Group,

a health advocacy organization in Washington, said,

however, that Dr. Gerberding did not push aggressively

enough to protect health workers from needle sticks.

" She has never been a strong enough advocate for H.I.V.

protection in health care workers, " Dr. Lurie said. " Her

past record provides us with no reassurance. "

A spokesman for Dr. Gerberding's office said she was not

available for comment today.

Several public health experts said one of Dr. Gerberding's

biggest challenges as head of the health centers would be

to re-examine the agency and its programs in light of

bioterrorism and its traditional role of fighting ordinary

disease.

" As important as bioterrorism is, it is only part of the

C.D.C.'s efforts, " said Dr. L. Roper, dean of the

School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina

and a previous director of the health centers. " It would be

unfortunate to focus predominately on bioterrorism and

forget that the agency's larger role is to lead the fight

against all infectious and chronic disease. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/03/health/03CDC.html?ex=1026701770 & ei=1 & en=bcf2d4\

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