Trump's Director of CDC: Huge Crank

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, appointed Friday as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who saw patients for 30 years in private practice.

Unlike any OB/GYN I know, Fitzgerald treated men as well as women. That's because besides being board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, she is a fellow in "anti-aging medicine."

...

“I’m shocked,” Dr. David Goldstein, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the New York University School of Medicine and treasurer of the International Menopause Society, said after I told him that Fitzgerald’s biography identifies her as an anti-aging medicine fellow.

Goldstein described so-called anti-aging treatments as "snake oil" that "plays on people's worst fears about their mortality."

“If she [Fitzgerald] was one of these people who was marketing anti-aging medicine, that’s scary," he said.

Turns out that she was, which is pretty surprising for someone tapped to lead a federal agency that takes pride in its "culture of scientific integrity."

...

Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Health Research, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., noted that some skeptics have questioned Fitzgerald’s qualifications to head the CDC because she doesn't have a background in scientific research.

“Her pitch as a physician suggests that, in addition to not being a researcher, she was providing treatments to patients that were not based on credible science,” Zuckerman told me after looking at the archived website for Fitzgerald's former medical practice. “If a patient wants to try such treatments, and a doctor wants to prescribe them—preferably giving informed consent that the benefits are unproven—that’s up to them.

“But putting that doctor in charge of the CDC, a crucial public health agency, doesn’t make sense.”

Linky.

She also joined in Coke's "we don't contribute to obesity, really" campaign.

For many years, The Coca-Cola Company, the world’s largest seller of sugary drinks, has sought to influence health policy and public opinion by forging ties with influential scientists and officials, including at the nation’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Now the Trump administration has appointed a new CDC chief, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, who, as Georgia public health commissioner for the past six years, partnered with Coke to run a program against child obesity. Coca-Cola KO +0.05% gave $1 million to Georgia SHAPE, which seeks to increase physical activity in schools but is silent about reducing soda consumption, even though studies have found that high sugar intake, especially in liquid form, is a driver of obesity and diabetes, as well as cancer and heart disease.

Linky.

 

[Toke]

Sounds like a bright spot in his appointments.
At least she should be capable of understanding what goes on in her area of responsibility.

 

[FenerFan]

Here is another article about Dr. Fitzgerald from npr.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/07/535954163/georgia-ob-gyn-will-lead-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention

In 2014, she noted her role as a mother in an op-ed she wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution titled "Babies need their vaccines."

"As a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist, I have seen the devastating and painful effects of whooping cough and other vaccine-preventable diseases," she wrote in the column. "Get vaccinated. Help spread the truth on vaccines, not the diseases they prevent."

I am relieved that Fitzgerald seems to be a firm supporter of vaccinating children. However, she may have less money to work with.

She'll do so at a time when the agency's budget is under threat. The Trump administration has proposed cutting the CDC budget by $1.2 billion, which amounts to a 17 percent cut. As we've reported, that would include a $186 million cut to programs at the CDC's center on HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and other sexually transmitted diseases. The CDC's chronic disease prevention programs, such as those for diabetes, heart disease, stroke and obesity, would be cut by $222 million.