President Joe Biden announced Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is leaving the agency at the end of June.
“The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC Director.”
Her goal was “leaving behind the dark days of the pandemic and moving CDC — and public health — forward into a much better and more trusted place.”
“In the process, we saved and improved lives and protected the country and the world from the greatest infectious disease threat we have seen in over 100 years,” Walensky said.
“She led a complex organization on the frontlines of a once-in-a-generation pandemic with honesty and integrity,” Biden said in a statement. “Dr. Walensky leaves CDC a stronger institution, better positioned to confront health threats and protect Americans.”
“We have all benefited from her service and dedication to public health, and I wish her the best in her next chapter,” Biden added.
Biden selected Walensky to lead the agency in December 2020. She replaced Dr. Robert Redfield, who was the director throughout the majority of former President Donald Trump’s administration.
Before becoming director, Walensky was the chief of the division of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, ABC News reported. She focused much of her work on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, spending time in South Africa improving HIV screening and care, and also as chair of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council.
