Redfield Named Head of CDC

HIV/AIDS researcher Robert Redfield, MD, has been named the next head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Redfield is a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and cofounder and associate director of the school’s Institute of Human Virology (IHV). In his role at IHV, Dr. Redfield oversees a clinical program that provides HIV care and treatment to more than 6,000 patients annually in the BaltimoreWashington, D.C., area. In that work, he has become expert in treating heroin addiction, since intravenous drug use carries a higher risk of transmitting infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis.

“The AIDS epidemic in the United States, particularly in cities like Baltimore, is infinitely tied up with substance use and substance abuse,” said James Curran, MD, dean of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. “I think that experience he has in Baltimore is very, very relevant to the opioid epidemic that we’ve been seeing over the past two decades.”