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Biden Administration International Affairs Personnel Tracker

Dr. Rochelle Walensky

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Dr. Walensky is currently Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. She holds an Infectious Disease Certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine, an MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and a MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health, among multiple medical residencies, fellowships, chairmanships and advisory positions in the U.S. and on the international stage.

Given that her career began in the 1990s, her research interests have centered around HIV/AIDS policy and cost-effective strategies of HIV care in resource-limited settings, through which she became an expert in viral testing, prevention, and treatment. “She is internationally recognized for motivating U.S. and global policy toward routine HIV screening;” research which has expanded to include France, Côte d’Ivoire, India, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

This position does not require Senate confirmation.

Views On China

Although her scientific research has expanded past U.S. borders and she has publicly acknowledged how “interconnected” the global community is, Dr. Walensky has few evident views on U.S. foreign policy, China, or U.S.-China relations at this time.

When questions about the origins of the coronavirus resurfaced in May 2021 after a discussion between lawmakers and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Walensky did state that an accidental release from a lab was “certainly” was “one possibility.” In her comments, made before Congress during a hearing on the CDC’s 2022 budget, Dr. Walensky also stated: “I don’t believe I’ve seen enough data, individual data for me to be able to comment” on the origins of the pandemic though most coronaviruses “generally come from an animal origin”.

This position was added to the tracker due to the Biden Administration’s inevitable focus on bringing the COVID-19 pandemic to a close, likely with foreign counterparts, and Beijing’s connection with the virus itself that has contributed to recent strains in U.S.-China relations.

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Page Last Updated: January 27, 2022

*None of the personnel in this tracker are associated with the Institute for China-America Studies. All images used on this page are sourced from the official Biden-Harris transition website buildbackbetter.gov or the public domain.*