Brenda Fitzgerald

In July 2017, the Trump administration named Georgia public health Commissioner Dr Brenda Fitzgerald to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. She resigned on Wednesday January 31, 2018 over financial investments that had posed potential conflicts of interest. Dr. Fitzgerald had traded in tobacco stocks after taking the position at the public health agency. Fitzgerald filled a spot held temporarily by the agency’s deputy director following the January 2017 resignation of Dr. Tom Frieden, an infectious disease expert who was appointed by the Obama administration to lead the CDC in 2009. Fitzgerald, an obstetrician-gynecologist, has run the Georgia state health agency for the past six years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a press release. Dr Anne Schuchat, who has been the acting CDC director since Jan. 20 2017, returned to her role as CDC’s principal deputy director. Fitzgerald served on the board and as president of the Georgia OB-GYN Society and she worked as a health care policy advisor with House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Paul Coverdell. She has served as Chairman of the Board for the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and remains a Senior Fellow. Additionally, she served on the Military Academy Selection Boards for Senators Paul Coverdell and Saxby Chambliss, and was a founding board member for the Paul Coverdell Leadership Institute. She also contributed to Leadership Georgia serving as a program chair, served as the 7th District Representative to the Georgia State School Board, and held board posts with Voices for Georgia’s Children, the Advanced Academy of West Georgia, the University of West Georgia Foundation, and the Carrollton Rotary Club. Dr. Fitzgerald holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from Georgia State University and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Emory University School of Medicine. She completed post-graduate training at the Emory-Grady Hospitals in Atlanta and held an assistant clinical professorship at Emory Medical Center. As a Major in the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Fitzgerald served at the Wurtsmith Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC) Base in Michigan and at the Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C.