Current:Home > InvestRochelle Walensky, who led the CDC during the pandemic, resigns -ProsperityStream Academy
Rochelle Walensky, who led the CDC during the pandemic, resigns
View
Date:2025-04-13 13:03:32
Dr. Rochelle Walensky is stepping down as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, citing the nation's progress in coping with COVID-19.
Walensky announced the move on the same day the World Health Organization declared that, for the first time since Jan. 30, 2020, COVID-19 is no longer a global public health emergency.
"I have never been prouder of anything I have done in my professional career," Walensky wrote in a letter to President Biden. "My tenure at CDC will remain forever the most cherished time I have spent doing hard, necessary, and impactful work."
Walensky, 54, will officially leave her office on June 30.
Biden selected Walensky to lead the CDC only a month after winning the 2020 presidential election. At the time, Walensky, an infectious disease physician, was teaching at Harvard Medical School and working at hospitals in Boston.
In response to Walensky's resignation, Biden credited her with saving American lives and praised her honesty and integrity.
"She marshalled our finest scientists and public health experts to turn the tide on the urgent crises we've faced," the president said.
The announcement came as a surprise to many staffers at the CDC, who told NPR they had no inkling this news was about to drop. Walensky was known as charismatic, incredibly smart and a strong leader.
"She led the CDC at perhaps the most challenging time in its history, in the middle of an absolute crisis," says Drew Altman, president and CEO of KFF.
She took the helm a year into the pandemic when the CDC had been found to have changed public health guidance based on political interference during the Trump administration. It was an extremely challenging moment for the CDC. Altman and others give her credit for trying to depoliticize the agency and put it on a better track. She led the agency with "science and dignity," Altman says.
But the CDC also faced criticism during her tenure for issuing some confusing COVID-19 guidance, among other communication issues. She told people, for instance, that once you got vaccinated you couldn't spread COVID-19. But in the summer of 2021 more data made it clear that wasn't the case, and that made her a target for some criticism, especially from Republican lawmakers and media figures.
On Thursday, the CDC reported that in 2022, COVID-19 was the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S., behind heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries, according to provisional data. And on May 11th the federal public health emergency declaration will end.
"The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country," Walensky wrote in her resignation letter. During her tenure the agency administered 670 million COVID-19 vaccines and, "in the process, we saved and improved lives and protected the country and the world from the greatest infectious disease threat we have seen in over 100 years."
President Biden has not yet named a replacement.
NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin contributed to this report.
veryGood! (12)
Related
- Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
- Oklahoma high court dismisses Tulsa Race Massacre reparations lawsuit
- Southern Miss football player MJ Daniels killed in shooting in Mississippi
- No new iPhone or MacBook? No hardware unveiled at WWDC 2024, but new AI and OS are coming
- Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
- 'Inside Out 2' review: The battle between Joy, Anxiety feels very real in profound sequel
- Joey Chestnut, Takeru Kobayashi to compete in Netflix competition
- Yes! Kate Spade Outlet’s 70% off Sale, Plus an Extra 20% Includes $60 Crossbodies, $36 Wristlets & More
- The city of Chicago is ordered to pay nearly $80M for a police chase that killed a 10
- Taylor Swift Fans Spot Easter Egg During Night Out With Cara Delevingne and More
Ranking
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- Hurricane Winds Can Destroy Solar Panels, But Developers Are Working to Fortify Them
- No Fed rate cut – for now. But see where investors are already placing bets
- The Stanley Cup Final in American Sign Language is a welcome addition for Deaf community
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Linda Perry had double mastectomy amid secret, 'stressful' breast cancer battle
- Historically Black Coconut Grove nurtured young athletes. Now that legacy is under threat
- A 9-year-old child is fatally shot in Milwaukee, the city’s 4th young gunshot victim in recent weeks
Recommendation
Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
Southern Baptists reject ban on women pastors in historic vote
Dogs search for missing Kentucky baby whose parents and grandfather face drug, abandonment charges
Audit finds Minnesota agency’s lax oversight fostered theft of $250M from federal food aid program
New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
Hulk Hogan launches 'Real American Beer' lager brand in 4 states with 13 more planned
Modest needs? Charity founder accused of embezzling $2.5 million to fund lavish lifestyle
Quincy Jones, director Richard Curtis, James Bond producers to receive honorary Oscars