Dr. Robert Redfield
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Robert Ray Redfield, Jr. was born in January 1951. Both of his parents were scientists at the National Institutes of Health. He earned an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, then was awarded his Doctor of Medicine from Georgetown University School of Medicine. His medical residency was undertaken at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he trained in internal medicine.
He co-interned as a U.S. Army physician and medical researcher at Walter Reed, working in fields of virology, immunology, and clinical research. After 20 years, he retired from the Army with the rank of Colonel. He co-founded the Institute of Human Virology based in Maryland and became a tenured professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Dr. Redfield served as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS during the George W. Bush administration, and was Chair of the International Subcommittee for four years. He has been the Director of the CDC since March 2018.
He is married to Joyce Hoke Redfield. They have five children and nine grandchildren.
In the News…
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun conducting antibody tests of three different groups to accurately measure the total number infected with the virus, including asymptomatic cases.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration announced its authorization of the first serology test, which detects any antibodies produced by the immune system in response to the virus.
The CDC’s intention is to identify those individuals who have recovered from infection and are to keep some level of protection from reinfection, important criteria for allowing people to go back to work. People who weren’t diagnosed with coronavirus, despite living in hot spots, as well as people from other areas around the country and certain exposed groups including healthcare workers are all targets of the study. It is possible, some epidemiologists say, that far more people have asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 than previously recorded.
While tests are developed, the virus rages on. Dr. Redfield, the CDC Director, said, “I have total confidence that we will get through this. I have total confidence that we’ll bring this virus down, but the tool that we’re going to do that is the request, for all Americans to really embrace the social distancing that we’ve requested.“
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Dr. Redfield today? You can let him know at:
Dr. Robert Redfield, Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30333
