Biden will replace Redfield with Rochelle Walensky @CDCgov. Another HIV scientist (as opposed to public health expert) made me nervous so here's a peak at her track record (THREAD)

She has clear opinions on health. Redfield was rather mute, hard to read & TBH, a doormat.

Walensky is on an op-ed from October saying:
-restrictions must be followed by test>trace>isolate
-if other countries can do this, so can we
-herd immunity is a "dangerous fallacy" unsupported by evidence
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7557300/

Walenky wrote that without frequent screening for COVID, universities shouldn't open. And also, stop blaming the college kids! https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3365

It's important for the CDC director to keep track of the latest COVID studies, consider the pitfalls, and figure out if their results can be applied. Seems Walensky did that wisely in assessing antibody studies. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2020.14017

Outside of COVID, Walensky has looked to data for guidance for other diseases. eg HIV therapy is limited, should it be given to older v younger people? https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/61/7/1196/289568 Terrible question to answer. But at least we can hope for a transparent process of decision making.

And Walensky's study on why measles is imported into the US may foreshadow they type of work CDC should be doing in the years to come, as COVID continues to surge in pockets, as measles does today. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28505632/ 

Here's the piece on Biden announcing Rochelle Walensky, the chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention @politico ht @alexandraphelan https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/06/rochelle-walensky-cdc-biden-443384