Who is Mandy Cohen?

Cohen, an internist, graduated from Cornell University, received her medical degree from Yale School of Medicine, and has a master's in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

In 2008, Cohen worked with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to co-found Doctors for Obama, a group that campaigned for President Barack Obama in 2008 and later changed its name to Doctors for America to promote the Affordable Care Act. Cohen has also worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs on women's health and previously worked on HIV issues in South Africa.

Cohen previously served as COO and chief of staff at CMS under the Obama administration and served as North Carolina's health secretary for nearly five years, helping steer the state's COVID-19 response in 2020 and 2021.

Currently, Cohen serves as an executive at Aledade, a private-sector firm that aims to improve primary care health practices.

Biden's formal announcement of Cohen as CDC director is expected later this month after her paperwork is finalized, people familiar with the matter told the Washington Post.

Reaction

Public health experts praised Cohen's selection. Anne Zink, Alaska's CMO and president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said that Cohen can "take the wonky stuff and make it work on the ground."

"What the CDC needs now is what Mandy Cohen brings," said Andy Slavitt, a former Biden advisor and CMS official who has worked with Cohen. "She's a cultural leader who can transform an agency from the bottom up, an accountable reformer, an extremely crisp communicator, and a savvy bridge-builder."

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) also praised Cohen, saying she "used a steady hand to help my administration lead North Carolina through the pandemic to be among the states with the lowest deaths and job losses per capita. She is a brilliant, talented, and battle-tested leader who would be a fantastic C.D.C. director."

"North Carolina is a purple state, which is relevant when, you know, we were in a public health emergency that was extremely politicized," said Neel Shah, CMO of Maven Clinic, who has known Cohen since they were both residents at Massachusetts General Hospital. Shah added that Cohen "did an outstanding job of having an impact in that kind of climate." (Diamond/Sun, Washington Post, 6/1; Stolberg/Mandavilli, New York Times, 6/1; Armour et al., Wall Street Journal, 6/1; Sherman, Axios, 6/1; Owermohle et al., STAT, 6/2)

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many of the flaws within  CDC, but some of those flaws can be addressed and fixed with three reforms, Tom Frieden, former CDC director, writes in The Atlantic.