CDC's Dr. Dreamy 
(Removed from EGMN Notes from the Road, 2/12/09)  

Before I left for Atlanta for the week-long Association of Healthcare Journalists’ fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several people asked me to try and get the scoop on who would be the next CDC director now that Julie Gerberding has stepped down. Short answer:  Nobody knows, and it won’t happen until a new Health and Human Services secretary has been confirmed.  Senator Tom Daschle’s withdrawal from the running has pushed back the leadership selection process for all HHS agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration as well as the CDC.
 
Of course, a reporter needn’t be on-site in Atlanta to have garnered that info.  Back in DC, I’d heard a few names being tossed around, including current New York state health commissioner Dr. Thomas R. Frieden and Dr. Helene Gayle, who formerly headed the CDC’s division of HIV, STD and TB prevention and now leads the nongovernmental organization CARE. Both are worthy candidates, for sure. 
 
But, judging by the chatter here at CDC, neither has generated nearly as much buzz as the current acting director, Dr. Richard E. Besser. Why? Well, “If the women at CDC have any say, he’ll be the next director,” one female CDC employee told me. “Just wait till you see him.”  Indeed.  As I’m stuffing my face with food at lunch, in walks this impeccably dressed, 6-foot plus hunk:



But hey, I’m a no-nonsense, objective professional medical reporter, so I’m just gonna play it cool.  He sits down at my 10-person table, and proceeds to explain to us how he’s been given the “marching orders” to proceed with policy as if he weren’t a temp. He is optimistic that the Obama stimulus plan will be generous with funds for CDC initiatives…Yeah, I’m paying attention…
 
He then asks everyone at the table to introduce him/herself, and responds to each person with warm, amiable, knowledgeable comments.  When it’s my turn, I say I’m with a division of Elsevier that produces multi-platform medical news for physicians.  Because he trained in pediatrics, I mention that one of our publications is Pediatric News.  He locks eyes with me—as if there were nobody else in the room—and says with a radiant smile, “Yes, I get Pediatric News. I like it very much.”  Swoon!  I’m glad I wasn’t standing, or my knees would have gone weak.  Objective, shmobjective…Dr. Dreamy gets my vote! 
 
–Miriam E. Tucker
 
P.S.  Oh, and he does have some qualifications for the job:   http://www.cdc.gov/about/leadership/leaders/besser.htm ###