CDC confirms Dr. Anne Schuchat as acting director

Brian Zimmerman -

Anne Schuchat, MD, will succeed outgoing CDC director Tom Frieden, MD, who is set to hand in his resignation on Friday, according to WebMD Health News.

Dr. Schuchat will serve as interim director of the CDC until the incoming HHS secretary official appoints a new director. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Congressman Tom Price (Ga.-R) for the post.

Dr. Schuchat joined the agency in 1988 as an epidemic intelligence service officer. She has served under Dr. Frieden as principal deputy director of the CDC since September 2015.

In her time at the CDC, Dr. Schuchat also served on the agency's anthrax emergency response team during the 2001 anthrax attacks in the U.S. Internationally, she has worked in West Africa on vaccine trials for multiple diseases — including Ebola — and in China during Beijing's SARS emergency response to an outbreak that began in 2002.

The new interim director has authored or co-authored more than 230 scientific articles, book chapters and reviews. She will be the third woman ever to lead the agency.

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