Top Local Doctor Tapped To Lead CDC Under Biden Administration

President-elect Joe Biden has selected the top infectious disease doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital to be the next head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rochelle Walensky will be one of the nation's leading public health figures in a new phase of the pandemic, one which will be buoyed by the first vaccination efforts across America.

Walensky is the chief of the division of infectious diseases at MGH and Brigham and Women's Hospital. She also chairs the office of the AIDS Research Advisory Council and sits on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Panel on antiretroviral guidelines for adults and adolescents, according to her hospital bio.

Walensky also teaches medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Her appointment was one of several health nominations announced Monday morning by Biden's transition team.

"I began my medical career at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and I've spent my life ever since working to research, treat, and combat infectious diseases," Walensky tweeted. "I'm honored to be called to lead the brilliant team at the CDC. We are ready to combat this virus with science and facts."

The CDC is expected to have a much louder voice in the country's response to the coronavirus under a Biden administration than it is during Trump's.