RE: NYTimes.com Article: Infectious Disease Expert...

[Guest guest]

Hey, did anyone notice that this newly appointed

person graduated from Case Western Reserve University?

Surely then the CDC must understand the truth of

toxic mold since Dr. Dorr Dearborn works with staff at

the same institution. How interesting...

Beverly

Message: 5

Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 09:09:30 -0400 (EDT)

From: MLMJ75@...

Subject: NYTimes.com Article: Infectious Disease

Expert Will Lead

National Health Agency

This article from NYTimes.com

has been sent to you by mlmj75@....

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\

f748846efa

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