A North Dakota native has been named to a new and vital health care post. The nation ought to wish her well because the task before her is daunting: overseeing the overhaul of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after its frustrating response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mary Wakefield, who was born and educated in Minnesota's northwest neighbor, is a nurse and veteran health care administrator who served as acting deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under former President Barack Obama. Last week, Wakefield was tapped to serve in a new role at the CDC: leading a team that will determine fixes to problems identified by two reviews of the agency's flawed COVID-19 approach.
Wakefield will bring a pragmatic Midwestern sensibility to the role, according to those have worked with her. Even so, the task she faces is monumental.
