CDC Director Frieden: Public health training bridges the implementation gap

Dr. Tom Frieden

Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, addressed more than 400 students, faculty, staff and visitors at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health on Oct. 8, encouraging public health students to prepare for “real-world” public health by being well informed and intellectually agile.

“The gap between what we know and what we wish to know is huge,” Frieden said. “But the gap between what we know and what we do is even larger. Public health training can help to bridge that implementation gap.”

Making the point that public policy decisions often are made quickly and not always rationally, Frieden compared real-world policymaking to a final exam, during which one is assigned a public health challenge, has two hours to conduct research, and must develop a succinct, one-page description of a program that will be implemented immediately.

“As public health practitioners, we need to be ready with evidence-based, effective, well-messaged programs that can be proposed when they become feasible logistically, technically, financially or politically,” he said.

Frieden was named director of the CDC and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in June. Prior to that, he served for seven years as commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

As commissioner, he oversaw one of the world’s oldest and largest public health agencies, with 6,000 staff members and an annual budget of $1.7 billion. His initiatives in obesity prevention and smoking cessation were unprecedented. During his tenure, the number of smokers declined by 350,000; teen smoking decreased by half; and New York City became the first place in the U.S. to eliminate trans fats from restaurants.

Frieden, a physician with training in internal medicine, infectious diseases, public health and epidemiology, is especially known for his expertise in tuberculosis control. He worked in India for five years in a program that now has treated more than 10 million patients and saved more than a million lives. While at the CDC from 1990 to 2002, he led a program that rapidly reduced tuberculosis by 80 percent.

A graduate of Oberlin College, Frieden received a medical degree and Master of Public Health from Columbia University and completed infectious disease training at Yale University. He has received numerous awards and honors and has published about 200 scientific articles.

Highlights of Frieden’s presentation are available at www.youtube.com/user/uncpublichealth.

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.