On Jun. 16, 2023, President Biden announced the appointment of Dr. Mandy Cohen as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cohen was previously the state health director for North Carolina.

Cohen stepped down from her position as North Carolina’s Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2021 after nearly five years on the job. She helped lead North Carolina through the COVID-19 pandemic and was a public face and spokeswoman for health policy out of Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration. And as Cohen takes on what’s become an increasingly politicized role at the CDC, Biden heralded her capacity to work across the aisle.

Cohen received her medical degree from the Yale School of Medicine and a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is an internal medicine physician who also has experience working in state and federal government.