The head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has hired Maine’s top infectious disease official to serve as her principal deputy director, the latest move in a broader reorganization of the agency.
(Bloomberg) — The head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has hired Maine’s top infectious disease official to serve as her principal deputy director, the latest move in a broader reorganization of the agency.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky’s new second-in-command, Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah, will start in March, Maine Governor Janet Mills said in a statement Thursday.
The new hire was made as a part of a cultural and operational overhaul that Walensky launched in response to criticism of the CDC’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Mills credited Shah with the state’s “nation-leading success” in confronting the health crisis.
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Shah, a doctor, lawyer, economist and epidemiologist, has had a long career in the health sector. Before becoming the face of Maine’s Covid-19 response, he served as the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. He was president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials from March 2021 to September 2022, during one of the organization’s “most challenging periods,” according to an ASTHO statement.
“I cannot think of a better person to serve as the CDC’s next principal deputy director,” ASTHO’s CEO Michael Fraser said.
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