AIDS Researcher Robert R. Redfield Named to Lead the C.D.C.

A leading AIDS researcher and proponent of medication-assisted therapy for addiction was appointed Wednesday to oversee the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alex M. Azar II, secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, announced that the agency’s new director would be Dr. Robert R. Redfield, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and co-founder of the Institute for Human Virology.

“Dr. Redfield has dedicated his entire life to promoting public health and providing compassionate care to his patients,” Mr. Azar said. “We are proud to welcome him as director of the world’s premier epidemiological agency.”

Dr. Redfield, 66, will replace Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, who resigned in January after just six months on the job. Dr. Fitzgerald left amid criticism of her investments with her husband in tobacco and health care companies that posed potential conflicts of interest.

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