A CDC Director-palooza: A Candid Conversation w Two Former CDC Chiefs Drs. Tom Frieden & Mandy Cohen

Is the CDC finally being fixed—or intentionally dismantled?
Wherever you fall on that divide—long-overdue reform or something more alarming—seismic changes are underway at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is implementing dramatic cuts and a reorganization that he says will help focus the CDC on its core mission: fighting communicable diseases. As part of the overhaul, he’s also reshaping the agency’s role in setting vaccine policy for all Americans.

Supporters see this as a chance to streamline an agency weighed down by competing agendas and bureaucratic gridlock. Critics call it a five-alarm fire, warning that these changes threaten to dismantle the very public health infrastructure that has long protected Americans, especially the most vulnerable.

To help us understand what’s at stake, we’re joined by not one, but two former CDC directors: Dr. Tom Frieden and Dr. Mandy Cohen. What do they think the CDC got wrong during the pandemic? Where does their old agency need to change today? What of the current reforms makes sense or puts the health of Americans at risk? And most importantly, how can the CDC regain the trust it once commanded?

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Dr. Mandy Cohen, former director of the CDC, former HHS secretary for the state of North Carolina; national advisor Manatt Health

Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the CDC, author, 'The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own'.  President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives

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