Dr. Rochelle Walensky is preparing for life after the pandemic. She announced her plans to step down as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 5, just six days before the federal government declared the end of the public health emergency.
Walenksy’s tenure of just under two and a half years as head of the nation’s lead public health agency was one of the shortest of any CDC director. It was also marked by contentious political fighting over pandemic public health policies.
She led the country’s coronavirus vaccination effort, the response to last year’s outbreak of mpox (formerly known as monkey pox), as well as a reorganization of the 13,000 person agency, while under fire from officials and the general public. As part of her work to change how the agency operates, she launched CDC Moving Forward, which is a blueprint for modernizing and streamlining the agency’s practices to better protect and inform the public.
