The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20090920141107/http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/08/new-chief-order.html
Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Collins Confirmed as NIH Director | Main | IBM's Kappos Approved as U.S. Patent Chief

August 7, 2009

New Chief Orders CDC to Cut Management Layers

Thomas Frieden, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has decided to dismantle a key component of former CDC Director Julie Gerberding’s controversial reorganization of the Atlanta-based agency. In a memo sent to CDC staffers on Friday, Frieden said he will “remove … from the CDC’s structure” the four Coordinating Centers—for infectious disease, health information, health promotion, and environmental health—that had been established as part of Gerberding’s restructuring, started in 2005.

While the centers' functions will be preserved, Frieden told staffers that “the current organizational structure is not best suited to meet the agency’s mission.” He based his decision on the recommendations of an internal panel which said that CDC can operate more efficiently with fewer layers of management. The Coordinating Center structure had been unpopular with many at CDC because it diminished the influence of national centers under its umbrella.

—Robert Koenig

Leave a comment

Thanks for your feedback. Please keep it polite and to the point.