AIDS Researcher Robert Redfield Is the New CDC Director. Here ’s Why the Pick Is Controversial

The Trump administration has tapped HIV researcher Dr. Robert Redfield to be the new leader of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Redfield will be replacing Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, who stepped down from CDC director after Politico reported that she had bought shares in a tobacco company after accepting the position. Redfield will not require Senate confirmation. However, reactions to his selection have been mixed. Before joining the CDC, Redfield was a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the co-founder of the university’s Institute of Human Virology. Over his career, he is credited with making important observations on the transmission of HIV, and he has studied the care of people with chronic viral infections. However, his reputation as an HIV expert is not without controversy. In 1993, Redfield was investigated by the U.S. Army for allegedly misrepresenting data regarding an AIDS vaccine under research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. The vaccine was meant to help treat people already infected with the disease. During presentations, Redfield reportedly described statistically significant decreases in the amount of HIV in the blood of people who received the vaccine, but Redfield was later accused of misrepresenting that data. Though the Army acknowledged there were issues about the accuracy of the data, Redfield was ultimately cleared of any allegations of scientific misconduct. However, one of the whis...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized CDC CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield healthytime public health Scientific misconduct Source Type: news