Biden's CDC Director Pick: Dr. Rochelle Walensky
- Amanda Christensen
- Dec 12, 2020
- 2 min read
Despite a rocky start for the president-elect, Biden continues with his cabinet picks: let’s see what his choice for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention director, Dr. Walensky, is all about.
A professor at Harvard Medical School and practicing infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Dr. Rochelle Walensky has proven to be a decorated candidate for the CDC director pick.
She began her career at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in the mid-1990s, pursuing a career in infectious disease research and practice. Currently, her research has taken focus on the analysis of cost-effectiveness of HIV testing, care and prevention strategies to inform HIV/AIDS policy both domestically and internationally. She’s had a strong influence on advancing international health policy while serving as chair of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (NIH).
As a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, Walensky has been alongside frontline healthcare workers on the battle against COVID-19, strategizing the most effective methods to navigate the deadly virus.
Under the Trump administration, Walensky has spoken out against the seemingly very lazy approach by the 45th president to contain the virus, emphasizing her disapproval to pursue herd immunity--which would require the healthier people of a given population to be infected with a virus in order to build up natural immunity. Because of the deadly nature of COVID-19, she points to the harmful repercussions that would almost certainly occur in an attempt to do this.
Moreover, she discusses the impact of COVID-19 running rampant across the country and forcing hospitals to reach capacity, therefore increasing the number of illnesses and deaths due to other diseases because people aren’t able to get the care they need.
Dr. Walensky would be the third woman to hold the position of CDC director, with Dr. Robert Redfield currently holding the role since 2018. She is a widely supported and favored physician across the country, including Dr. Fauci who will continue to hold his role as chief medical advisor under Biden.
This pick would be a step in the right direction for Biden’s cabinet, as well as the country as a whole, to do what’s needed to battle COVID-19 as we approach the new year.
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