Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee, sent a letter to President Donald Trump March 19 calling into question the qualifications of Robert Redfield, MD, a top candidate for the nomination of director of the CDC.
Mr. Murray said Dr. Redfield does not have the public health experience to properly lead the CDC. He also brought attention to Dr. Redfield's controversial history on the research and treatment of HIV/AIDS when he served as chief of the Department of Retroviral Research at Silver Spring, Md.-based Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the early 1990's.
During his time at Walter Reed, Dr. Redfield advocated strongly for the AIDS vaccine, gp-160, whose manufacturer he worked closely with, and misrepresented data on the drug's effectiveness. The Army eventually found Dr. Redfield was at fault for prematurely presenting the information. Dr. Redfield also advocated for segregating HIV-positive members of the Army into separate housing, though the Department of Defense Inspector General found it violated Army regulations.
"This pattern of ethically and morally questionable behavior leads me to seriously question whether Dr. Redfield is qualified to be the federal government's chief advocate and spokesperson for public health," Ms. Murray wrote. "I hope you will reconsider Dr. Redfield as a candidate for CDC director and instead seek a candidate whose experience and positions lend credibility to the nation's critical public health work."