Health Affairs December 7, 2022
In 1976, I was a high school student eating breakfast with my father when news broke that the CDC had solved the Legionella mystery by discovering a new microbe. My father, a quiet, thoughtful cardiologist, peered over his eyeglasses as he read the newspaper. “The CDC,” he mused, “it’s an impressive organization.”
I joined the CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer 14 years later, loved every minute of that 2-year experience, and became its 14th director 19 years after that. In my nearly 8 years as director, although I saw weaknesses and challenges of the organization, I was repeatedly amazed and inspired by the deep knowledge, commitment, and ingenuity of so many of the more than 10,000 doctors, nurses,...