Dr. Mandy Cohen speaks at a press conference at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, November 10, 2021.
Brian Andersen | AP
President Joe Biden said Friday that he would see Dr. Mandy Cohen will direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cohen was the head of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services during the worst days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Previously, she helped implement Affordable Care Act programs as a senior civil servant at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Cohen is a physician of internal medicine.
“Dr. Cohen is one of the nation’s top physicians and health leaders with experience leading large and complex organizations, and a proven track record of protecting the health and safety of Americans,” Biden said in a statement Friday. .
CDC directors currently do not require Senate confirmation, though that will change in January 2025 due to recent legislation passed by Congress.
Cohen’s appointment comes as the U.S. federal health leadership is in a transition period after the Covid-19 public health emergency ended last month.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the current CDC director, will step down at the end of this month. She guided the CDC through the Covid vaccine rollout, as well as the delta and omicron waves of Covid. Walensky cited the end of the Covid emergency in her letter of resignation to Biden.
Cohen will take over a CDC that is undergoing restructuring to address criticism that the agency acted too slowly during the pandemic and often issued health guidelines that confused the public.
But the CDC isn’t the only health agency making changes.
Dr. Ashish Jha left the White House earlier this month after leading the Covid task force for more than a year.
Biden recently invited Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to run the National Institutes of Health. She is currently the head of the National Cancer Institute. The NIH has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since December 2021.
Senator Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate health committee, told The Washington Post earlier this week that he would oppose Bertagnolli’s nomination until the president adopts a clear strategy to lower drug prices.