Robert Redfield (virologist)

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Robert R. Redfield.

Robert Ray Redfield Jr. (Born July 10, 1951 ) is an American virologist and the 18th head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Trump administration . He heads this agency during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States . As a scientist, he mainly dealt with the HI virus and AIDS .

Life

Robert R. Redfield was born to two employees of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His future wife also came from a medical background as a nurse; two of his sons were supposed to become doctors.

Redfield studied medicine at Georgetown University . He completed his practical year at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center . He stayed there as an officer in the US Army and worked as a researcher. During his twenty years as a military doctor, he founded the US Army's HIV research program, among other things. He was one of the first researchers to show that AIDS can also be transmitted heterosexually. But in 1990 he also spoke out against the distribution of condoms and clean syringes as a preventive measure. In the early 1990s, a study into a possible vaccine led to military investigations into scientific misconduct. The investigations did not find any misconduct, but the study had to be withdrawn because of the errors. Redfield was reprimanded for violating the military code of honor. He maintained too close contacts with the conservative organization Americans for Sound AIDS Policy (ASAP) and inappropriately sent data to the organization headed by Evangelical Shepherd Smith . Redfield was also on ASAP's advisory board at the time with his assistant, Deborah Birx .

After retiring from the military, Robert R. Redfield founded the Institute for Human Virology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, together with Robert Gallo in 1996 . Here he dealt with the treatment of HIV patients and drug addicts in the greater Baltimore area , but also the fight against AIDS in Africa. He also served on two NIH advisory committees from 2002 to 2006 during the presidency of George W. Bush , when Alex Azar was simultaneously advisor and later deputy secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services .

Redfield was named director of the CDC in March 2018. He replaced Anne Schuchat , who had temporarily headed this agency from January 2018 and who in turn had replaced Brenda Fitzgerald . Fitzgerald was forced to resign after conflicts of interest became known; his appointment was controversial, with scientific misconduct and anti- HIV treatment methods rumored to be contrary to prevailing doctrine. The appointment was supported by evangelicals like Shepherd Smith .

COVID-19 pandemic

Redfield (right) during the COVID-19 task force press conference on Feb.29.

As director of the CDC, he first implemented programs to fight HIV and contain opioids . During his tenure as head of the CDC, the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States . Redfield came relatively early under criticism for the work of the CDC. He was charged with the fact that CDC decided against the timely evacuation of the Diamond Princess . Delays in COVID-19 tests have also been criticized. Statements by Redfield on February 29 and March 6, 2020 that the risk was low and that Americans could continue their lives normally were criticized in retrospect as misleading or false.

On July 15, 2020 (the Covid pandemic had now struck 3.4 million US residents; over 60,000 new infections were registered on July 14 alone) he said: “If we could get all [Americans] to wear masks now “Then control of the pandemic could be achieved in a month or two. They are also the key to reopening schools.

Web links

Commons : Robert R. Redfield  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Sheila Kaplan, AIDS Researcher Robert R. Redfield Named to Lead the CDC , New York Times, March 21, 2018.
  2. ^ Biography of Robert R. Redfield on the CRC homepage .
  3. ^ A b c AIDS researcher Robert R. Redfield selected as CDC director , CBS News, March 22, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b Debra Goldschmidt, Dr. Robert Redfield appointed CDC director , CNN March 21, 2018.
  5. ↑ a b Kristen Holmes / Nick Valencia / Curt Devine, CDC woes bring Director Redfield's troubled past as an AIDS researcher to light , CNN of June 4, 2020.
  6. ↑ Julia Belluz, The new CDC director was once accused of research misconduct , www.vox.com of March 22, 2018.
  7. ^ A b Dan Diamond, Trump's CDC chief faces increasingly harsh scrutiny , Politico from February 26, 2020.
  8. ↑ a b Tim Dickinson, The Four Men Responsible For America's COVID-19 Test Disaster , Rolling Stone, May 10, 2020.
  9. ↑ https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/14/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html
personal data
SURNAME Redfield, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Redfield, Robert Ray Jr.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American virologist and director of the CDC
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1951