Jump to content

Robert R. Redfield

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Robert R. Redfield Jr.)
This article is about the American virologist and medical researcher. For the American anthropologist, see Robert Redfield.

Robert R. Redfield
Redfield in 2018
18th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
In office
March 26, 2018 – January 20, 2021
PresidentDonald Trump
DeputyAnne Schuchat
Preceded byBrenda Fitzgerald
Succeeded byRochelle Walensky
Personal details
Born
Robert Ray Redfield Jr.

(1951-07-10) July 10, 1951 (age 73)
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
EducationGeorgetown University (BS, MD)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1977–1996
Rank Colonel
UnitMedical Corps

Robert Ray Redfield Jr. (born July 10, 1951) is an American virologist who served as the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry from 2018 to 2021.

Early life and education

[edit]

Robert Ray Redfield Jr.[1][2] was born on July 10, 1951. His parents, Robert Ray Redfield (1923–1956, from Ogden) and Betty, née Gasvoda,[1] were both scientists at the National Institutes of Health,[3] where his father was a surgeon and cellular physiologist at the National Heart Institute;[1] Redfield's career in medical research was influenced by this background.[3] His parents had another son and a daughter. His father died when he was four years old.[1]

Redfield attended Georgetown University,[4] and at college worked in Columbia University laboratories where investigations focused on the involvement of retroviruses in human disease.[citation needed] Redfield earned a Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University's College of Arts and Sciences in 1973. He then attended Georgetown University School of Medicine and was awarded his Doctor of Medicine in 1977.[5][6]

Army career

[edit]

Redfield's medical residency was at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, D.C., where he completed his postgraduate medical training and internships in internal medicine (1978–1980), as a U.S. Army officer. Redfield completed clinical and research fellowships at WRAMC, in infectious diseases and tropical medicine, by 1982.[4]

Redfield continued as a U.S. Army physician and medical researcher at the WRAMC for the next decade, working in virology, immunology and clinical research. He collaborated with teams at the forefront of AIDS research, publishing several papers and advocating for strategies to translate knowledge gained from clinical studies to the practical treatment of patients afflicted by chronic viral diseases.[third-party source needed][4][verification needed] During this time, Redfield received the Surgeon General's Physician Recognition Award in 1987, an honorary degree from the New York Medical College in 1989, a lifetime services award from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Immunology and Aging in 1993.[4][7][8]

During this time, Redfield served on the board of Americans for a Sound AIDS Policy (ASAP), which gay groups criticized for anti-gay, conservative Christian policies, such as abstinence-only prevention.[9] Redfield also authored the foreword to the 1990 book co-written by ASAP leader W. Shepard Smith, "Christians in the Age of AIDS", which discouraged the distribution of sterile needles to drug users as well as condom use, calling them "false prophets". The book described AIDS as "God's judgment" against homosexuals.[10]

Redfield retired from the Army in 1996 as a colonel.[11]

HIV vaccine controversy

[edit]

In 1992, the Defense Department investigated Redfield after he was accused of misrepresenting the effects of an experimental HIV vaccine, the study of which he had overseen.[12][13][14] On the basis of this data, in 1992, the U.S. Senate gave a $20 million appropriation for a private company, MicroGeneSys, to develop a therapeutic HIV vaccine based on the protein gp160, which went into clinical trials. Randy Shilts, author of And The Band Played On, wrote that the idea of a therapeutic vaccine was a radical idea that came to Redfield while reading his children a book about Louis Pasteur which he then discussed with Jonas Salk who was in support.[15][page needed][verification needed] At the time a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, Redfield was the Army's leading AIDS researcher, and a proponent of the vaccine.

In July 1992, Redfield gave an abstract presentation on the vaccine at the international AIDS conference in Amsterdam. Based on preliminary results of 15 of the 26 patients who got the vaccine, Redfield said that the viral load of patients getting the vaccine was lower than patients who did not get the vaccine. Most researchers believe that viral load is a good indicator of vaccine effectiveness.[full citation needed] The vaccine later turned out to be ineffective. Many researchers, however, were skeptical of the data, and were unable to reproduce Redfield's analysis.[13][16] Craig Hendrix, a US Air Force scientist (now at Johns Hopkins) said that Redfield committed scientific misconduct by misusing data in studies of the vaccine.[17]

In 1993, a U.S. Army investigation acknowledged accuracy issues with the HIV vaccine clinical trials,[16] but concluded that their investigations "did not support the allegations of scientific misconduct,"[18][12] and he was subsequently promoted to colonel.[citation needed] Redfield is quoted in Big Shot: Passion, Politics, and the Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine, the comprehensive book on the controversy, as saying of his accusers, "I am disappointed in the institutions for not holding the individuals accountable for what I consider conduct unbecoming of an officer."[11][page needed]

Redfield continued studies of the gp160 vaccine; the results of the 27-author phase II clinical trial were published in the Journal of Infectious Disease in 2000, concluding that the vaccine was ineffective, with Deborah L. Birx as lead author.[19] Redfield's multi-site study was a collaboration between the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health,[19] The work did not, however, result in an effective vaccine.[12]

The 1993 investigation said that Redfield had an "inappropriate" close relationship with the non-governmental group "Americans for a Sound AIDS/HIV Policy" (ASAP), which promoted the gp160 vaccine. The group was founded by evangelical Christians who worked to contain the HIV/AIDS outbreak by advocating for abstinence before marriage, rather than passing out condoms — a view Redfield says he's since changed.[18][20]

University of Maryland School of Medicine

[edit]

In 1996, Redfield, his HIV research colleague Robert Gallo and viral epidemiologist William Blattner co-founded the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. It is a multidisciplinary research organization dedicated to developing research and treatment programs for chronic human viral infection and disease.[3] : 417 

At the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Redfield served as a tenured professor of medicine and microbiology,[when?] chief of infectious disease,[when?] and vice chair of medicine.[when?][3] Redfield is known for his contributions in this period — in clinical research, in particular, for research into the virology and therapeutic treatments of HIV infection and AIDS. In the early years of investigations into the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, Redfield led research that demonstrated that the HIV retrovirus could be heterosexually transmitted.[third-party source needed][3][4][21][22] He also developed the staging system now in use worldwide for the clinical assessment of HIV infection.[3][4] Under his clinical leadership at the University of Maryland the patient base grew from 200 patients to approximately 6,000 in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and more than 1.3 million in African and Caribbean nations.[23] His clinical research team won over $600 million in research funding.[24]

In the 2000s, Redfield was a prominent advocate for the ABCs of AIDS doctrine, which promoted abstinence primarily and condoms only a last resort.[25]

While holding this position, he was interviewed for the 2009 HIV/AIDS denialist film House of Numbers.[26] Scientists interviewed for the film complained afterward that their comments had been taken out of context and misrepresented, and that, unknown at the interview times, the film promoted pseudoscience.[27][28]

Redfield served as a member of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS from 2005 to 2009,[citation needed] and was appointed as chair of the International Subcommittee from 2006 to 2009.[citation needed] He is a past member of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health,[citation needed] the Fogarty International Center Advisory Board at the National Institutes of Health,[citation needed] and the Advisory Anti-Infective Agent Committee of the Food and Drug Administration.[citation needed] In 2012, along with William Blattner, he was named entrepreneur of the year at the University of Maryland.[29] In 2016 he was named the inaugural Robert C. Gallo, MD Endowed Professors in Translational Medicine.[30]

CDC Director

[edit]
Redfield speaks on the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020

Redfield became the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 26, 2018.[31] He was appointed to the post by President Donald Trump, after the president's first appointee, Brenda Fitzgerald, resigned in scandal.[32]

His appointment was considered controversial; he was publicly opposed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate health committee, but supported by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and some advocates for AIDS patients.[33][34][35][36] Redfield was criticized for maintaining close ties with homophobic activists,[9] although he has publicly supported the use of condoms and denied ever promoting abstinence-only interventions.[31]

In his inaugural address to the CDC, Redfield called the agency "science-based and data-driven, and that's why CDC has the credibility around the world that it has".[31]

In 2018, after Redfield was appointed to the CDC, Democrats and watchdog groups criticized his $375,000-a-year salary, which was significantly higher than the $219,700 salary of his predecessor, Tom Frieden, and higher than that of Redfield's boss, Alex Azar, the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Azar (a former president of a division of Eli Lilly) and the head of the FDA had taken significant pay cuts on moving into government service, but their salaries are set by Congress while the salary of the CDC Director is not.[37] Within a few days, Redfield asked for and received a pay reduction to $209,700 from $375,000 because "[he] did not want his compensation to become a distraction from the important work of the CDC".[38]

COVID-19 pandemic

[edit]
See also: COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

On January 8, 2020, Redfield was advised by the head of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) was probably contagious among humans. Redfield did not warn the public at that time.[39] The first confirmed case of COVID-19 was discovered in the U.S. on January 20, 2020,[40] while Redfield was serving as director of the CDC. Redfield was a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force from its start on January 29, 2020.[41]

On February 13, 2020, Redfield said that the "virus is probably with us beyond this season, beyond this year, and I think eventually the virus will find a foothold and we will get community-based transmission".[42] This contrasted with statements by President Trump, who, erroneously, told the public through most of February that the virus was under control.[43]

During February 2020, the CDC's early coronavirus test malfunctioned nationwide. Redfield reassured his fellow task force officials that the problem would be quickly solved, according to White House officials.[44] It took about three weeks to sort out the failed test kits, which may have been contaminated during their processing in a CDC lab. Widespread COVID-19 testing in the United States was effectively stalled until February 28, when the faulty test was revised, and the days afterward, when the Food and Drug Administration began loosening rules that had restricted other labs from developing tests.[45] Later investigations by the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services found that the CDC had violated its own protocols in developing the faulty test.[44][46]

Redfield testified to Congress on March 2, 2020, about the outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S. Given the lack of testing on patients and healthcare workers requesting testing, Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz asked Redfield about who was responsible to ensure testing could be performed on individuals who needed to be tested. Redfield could not name a specific individual and looked to Anthony Fauci, director of infectious disease at the NIH, who said, "The system is not geared to what we need right now... that is a failing."[47][48]

On April 6, 2020, to justify his belief that social distancing could be effective and that COVID-19 deaths would not be as high as models predicted, Redfield stated on AM 1030 KVOI Radio in Tucson, Arizona, "those models that were done, they assume only about 50 percent of the American public would pay attention to the recommendations".[49][50][51]

On July 14, 2020, Redfield warned that the winter of 2020–2021 would probably be "one of the most difficult times that we've experienced in American public health".[52] He also said, "If we could get everybody to wear a mask right now, I really do think over the next four, six, eight weeks, we could bring this epidemic under control."[53] Trump, asked about Redfield's statements, said he opposed a mask law and said "masks cause problems too," but also said, "I think masks are good".[54]

On July 23, the CDC called for reopening American schools, in a statement written by a working group at the White House that included Redfield but had minimal representation from other CDC officials.[55]

Trump publicly contradicted Redfield on September 16, 2020, on the timeline for a COVID-19 vaccine and the effectiveness of masks compared with inoculation. Redfield told a Senate panel that a limited supply of a COVID-19 vaccine might be available in November or December, but that the general public would not be inoculated until the summer or fall of 2021.[56] Redfield also said that masks could be a more effective protection against COVID-19 than the vaccine. After Redfield's testimony, Trump told reporters, "I believe he was confused" and said a vaccine could be available in weeks and go "immediately" to the general public.[57][58]

In September 2020, Redfield sought to extend a no-sail order on passenger cruise ships into 2021 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but he was overruled by Vice President Mike Pence. The no-sail order was instead set to expire on October 31, 2020. Some of the severest early outbreaks of COVID-19 were on cruise ships.[59]

Assessments

[edit]

The CDC's actions during the pandemic have led to intense scrutiny of Redfield in congressional hearings and in media reports.[60] Laurie Garrett, a science journalist who is a former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, called Redfield "about the worst person you could think of to be heading the CDC at this time" and said "he lets his prejudices interfere with the science, which you cannot afford during a pandemic".[61] William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, said "Bob Redfield's commitment to public health is completely strong," but said that Redfield has had trouble advocating effectively inside the White House.[62] Trump was said to like Redfield but to distrust the CDC.[62]

Later life

[edit]

In a March 26, 2021, Redfield said that in his opinion the most likely cause of the COVID-19 pandemic was a laboratory escape of SARS-CoV-2, which "doesn't imply any intentionality", and that as a virologist, he did not believe it made "biological sense" for the virus to be so "efficient in human to human transmission" from the early outbreak.[63]

In the political reappraisal of the pandemic, Redfield was heard on March 8, 2023, during a congressional hearing regarding the origins of COVID-19. Redfield reaffirmed his conclusion that the pandemic was caused by a leak from a laboratory (lab leak hypothesis). This conclusion was based primarily on the biology of the virus itself, including its rapid high contagiousness in human-to-human transmission. He stated that the virus was too capable of spreading between humans to be the result of a natural animal-to-human spillover (zoonotic hypothesis).[64][65]

Redfield stated that the biology of the virus, including its high infectivity in human-to-human transmission, suggests that it originated in a laboratory through gain-of-function research, in which scientists attempt to increase the transmissibility or pathogenicity. Redfield testified that gain-of-function research on high-risk viruses in Wuhan have been funded by National Institutes of Health, the State Department, USAID and the Department of Defense (DOD). The House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of a bill mandating the release of information on the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.[66]

Personal life

[edit]

Redfield is married to Joyce Hoke, whom he met while delivering babies as a medical student when she was a nursing assistant.[67] They have six children and nine grandchildren.[67]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Young Ogden surgeon is dead in Maryland". The Ogden Standard-Examiner. January 5, 1956.
  2. ^ CBS/AP Staff (March 22, 2018). "AIDS researcher Robert R. Redfield selected as CDC director". CBS News. Archived from the original on May 16, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Institute of Human Virology (2008)
  4. ^ a b c d e f Medical Institute of Sexual Health (2007). "Robert R. Redfield. M.D." National Advisory Board Members. The Institute. Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
  5. ^ "Robert Redfield - Director of the CDC" (PDF). National Journal. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  6. ^ El-Asmar, Jupiter (2019). "Alumni in the Field: Robert Redfield". Georgetown Health Magazine. Archived from the original on March 13, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  7. ^ "HIV Continuum of Care Forum" (PDF). Catholic Relief Services. 2009. p. 10. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  8. ^ "Robert R. Redfield: Professional Activities". Sci Forschen. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Strub, Sean (March 20, 2018). "Concerns About Robert Redfield for CDC". POZ. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  10. ^ Garrett, Laurie (May 14, 2018). "Why Trump's new CDC director is an abysmal choice". CNN. Archived from the original on March 4, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  11. ^ a b Thomas, Patricia (September 18, 2001). Big Shot: Passion, Politics, and the Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-891620-88-1.[full citation needed]
  12. ^ a b c Kalenderian, Michael (March 12, 2020). "Trumps CDC Director is not great". Vice News. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  13. ^ a b Holmes, Kristen; Valencia, Nick and Curt Devine (June 5, 2020). "CDC woes bring Director Redfield's troubled past as an AIDS researcher to light Archived June 11, 2020, at the Wayback Machine", CNN. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  14. ^ Lurie, Peter (June 4, 2020). "CDC Director Robert Redfield: Too Smooth to be True Archived June 12, 2020, at the Wayback Machine," Beyond the Curve, Center for Science in the Public Interest. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  15. ^ Shilts, Randy (June 23, 2005). Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military.[full citation needed]
  16. ^ a b Taylor, Marisa (March 21, 2018). "Research Misconduct Allegations Shadow New CDC Director Archived June 5, 2020, at the Wayback Machine," NPR. Retrieved June 11, 2020. (Also Kaiser Health News Archived June 5, 2020, at the Wayback Machine)
  17. ^ Kaplan, Sheila (March 21, 2018). "AIDS Researcher Robert R. Redfield Named to Lead the C.D.C." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  18. ^ a b Cohen, J (1993). "Army clears Redfield—but fails to resolve controversy". Science. 261 (5123, 1 August): 824–825. Bibcode:1993Sci...261..824C. doi:10.1126/science.8346432. PMID 8346432. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  19. ^ a b Birx DL, Loomis-Price LD, Aronson N, Brundage J, Davis C, Deyton L, Garner R, Gordin F, Henry D, Holloway W, Kerkering T, Luskin-Hawk R, McNeil J, Michael N, Foster Pierce P, Poretz D, Ratto-Kim S, Renzullo P, Ruiz N, Sitz K, Smith G, Tacket C, Thompson M, Tramont E, Yangco B, Yarrish R, Redfield RR, rgp160 Phase II Vaccine Investigators (March 2000). "Efficacy testing of recombinant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) gp160 as a therapeutic vaccine in early-stage HIV-1-infected volunteers". J Infect Dis. 181 (3): 881–889. doi:10.1086/315308. PMID 10720508.
  20. ^ Meier, Barry (November 2, 1993). "Political Battle Over an AIDS Drug". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 25, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  21. ^ Redfield et al. (1985a).
  22. ^ Redfield et al. (1985b)
  23. ^ University of Maryland, Baltimore. "Dr. Robert Redfield, Co-Founder of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, to Become CDC Director". University of Maryland, Baltimore. Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  24. ^ "Institute of Human Virology Annual Report 2017" (PDF). Institute of Human Virology. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  25. ^ Garrett, Laurie (March 23, 2018). "Meet Trump's New, Homophobic Public Health Quack". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on March 10, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  26. ^ "House of Numbers: Anatomy of An Epidemic". Knowledge Matters, LLC. April 20, 2011.
  27. ^ Burki T (2009). "House of Numbers". Lancet Infectious Diseases. 9 (12): 735. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(09)70316-0.
  28. ^ Catsoulis, Jeanette (September 4, 2009). "AIDS Seen From a Different Angle". New York Times. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  29. ^ University of Maryland, Baltimore. "Past Founders Week Award Winners". University of Maryland, Baltimore. Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  30. ^ University of Maryland, Baltimore. "Two Prominent Institute of Human Virology Researchers Honored With Robert C. Gallo, MD Endowed Professorships in Translational Medicine". University of Maryland, Baltimore. Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  31. ^ a b c Sun, Lena H. (March 29, 2018). "In emotional speech, CDC's new leader vows to uphold science". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on March 30, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  32. ^ Goldschmidt, Debra (March 21, 2018). "Dr. Robert Redfield appointed to lead CDC". CNN. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  33. ^ "CSPI Urges Administration Not to Appoint Dr. Robert Redfield, with History of Scientific Misconduct, as CDC Director". cspinet.org. March 21, 2018. Archived from the original on April 12, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  34. ^ Goldschmidt, Debra (March 21, 2018). "Dr. Robert Redfield appointed CDC director". CNN. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  35. ^ Choma, Russ (March 7, 2020). "Trump's CDC director has a history of controversial opinions on controlling viruses". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on April 9, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  36. ^ Kaplan, Sheila (March 21, 2018). "AIDS Researcher Robert R. Redfield Named to Lead the C.D.C." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  37. ^ Kaplan, Sheila (April 27, 2018). "New C.D.C. Director's $375,000 Salary Under Scrutiny". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  38. ^ Kaplan, Sheila (May 8, 2018). "C.D.C. Director's Salary Is Reduced to $209,700 From $375,000". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 12, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  39. ^ Buckley, Chris (December 30, 2020). "25 Days That Changed the World: How Covid-19 Slipped China's Grasp". The New York Times.
  40. ^ Holshue, Michelle L.; DeBolt, Chas; Lindquist, Scott; Lofy, Kathy H.; Wiesman, John; Bruce, Hollianne; Spitters, Christopher; Ericson, Keith; Wilkerson, Sara; Tural, Ahmet; Diaz, George (March 5, 2020). "First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States". New England Journal of Medicine. 382 (10): 929–936. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2001191. ISSN 0028-4793. PMC 7092802. PMID 32004427.
  41. ^ "Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding the President's Coronavirus Task Force". whitehouse.gov. January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2020 – via National Archives.
  42. ^ Howard, Jacqueline (February 14, 2020). "CDC director: Novel coronavirus 'is probably with us beyond this season, beyond this year'". CNN. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  43. ^ "Timeline: How Trump was out of step with the CDC during coronavirus response". www.cnn.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  44. ^ a b Murray, Sara; Valencia, Nick; Diamond, Jeremy; Glover, Scott (April 20, 2020). "How coronavirus testing fumbles squandered valuable time". CNN. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  45. ^ Whoriskey, Peter; Satija, Neena. "How U.S. coronavirus testing stalled: Flawed tests, red tape and resistance to using the millions of tests produced by the WHO". Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 10, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  46. ^ Willman, David. "CDC coronavirus test kits were likely contaminated, federal review confirms". Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  47. ^ "NIH's Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC's Dr. Robert Redfield testify on Capitol Hill". YouTube. March 12, 2020. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  48. ^ Dalton, Clayton (March 14, 2020). "Opinion Early Coronavirus Testing Failures Will Cost Lives". NPR. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  49. ^ CDC Director Robert Redfield: Because American Public Did Social Distancing, Coronavirus Death Toll Will Be "Much, Much, Much Lower" RealClearPolitics. April 7, 2020.
  50. ^ "CDC director downplays coronavirus models". ABC News. April 7, 2020. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  51. ^ Transcript - The Situation Room CNN. April 7, 2020.
  52. ^ Bendix, Aria. "CDC director predicts this fall and winter will be 'one of the most difficult times we've experienced in American public health'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  53. ^ "Widespread wearing of masks could get COVID-19 under control within 4-8 weeks, CDC director says". FOX TV Digital Team. July 15, 2020. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  54. ^ "Trump says 'I don't agree' with CDC director's mask message". NBC News. July 17, 2020. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  55. ^ Goodnough, Abby (July 24, 2020). "C.D.C. Calls on Schools to Reopen, Downplaying Health Risks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 12, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  56. ^ Vazquez, Maegan (September 16, 2020). "Trump disputes CDC head's vaccine timeline and mask claims". CNN. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  57. ^ Collins, Michael; Jackson, David (September 16, 2020). "Trump says CDC Director Robert Redfield 'confused' about coronavirus vaccine, mask efficacy. Redfield responded". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  58. ^ "Covid-19 Live Updates: Trump Again Scorns Science on Masks and Vaccines". The New York Times. September 17, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  59. ^ Swan, Jonathan (September 29, 2020). "CDC director overruled on cruise ship ban". Axios. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  60. ^ Diamond, Dan (February 26, 2020). "Trump's CDC chief faces increasingly harsh scrutiny". POLITICO. Archived from the original on August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  61. ^ Luce, Edward (May 14, 2020). "Inside Trump's coronavirus meltdown". Financial Times. Archived from the original on May 16, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  62. ^ a b Sun, Lena H.; Dawsey, Josh. "CDC feels pressure from Trump as rift grows over coronavirus response". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  63. ^ "Former CDC director believes coronavirus came from lab in China". CNN Video. March 26, 2021. Archived from the original on July 25, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021. One of them is in the lab, and one of them, which is the more likely, ... is that it likely was below the radar screen in China, spreading in the community ... which allowed it, when it first got recognized clinically, to be pretty well adapted.
  64. ^ Lenharo, Mariana; Wolf, Lauren (2023). "US COVID-origins hearing renews debate over lab-leak hypothesis". Nature. 615 (7952): 380–381. Bibcode:2023Natur.615..380L. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-00701-1. PMID 36890328. S2CID 257426722.
  65. ^ Written Statement of Dr. Robert R. Redfield Before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis March 8, 2023 Citation: "Based on my initial analysis of the data, I came to believe—and still believe today—that it indicates COVID-19 infections more likely were the result of an accidental lab leak than the result of a natural spillover event. This conclusion is based primarily on the biology of the virus itself, including its rapid high infectivity for human to human transmission which would then predict rapid evolution of new variants"
  66. ^ "U.S. Government agencies may have been double billed for projects in Wuhan, China, records indicate; probe launched". CBS News. March 17, 2023.
  67. ^ a b Kaplan, Sheila (March 18, 2018). "AIDS Researcher Top Candidate to Lead the C.D.C." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.

Bibliography

[edit]
Government offices
Preceded by Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2018–2021 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_R._Redfield&oldid=1259288108"