The CDC Director's Biography

Julie Louise Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H., became the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on July 3, 2002.

Before becoming CDC Director and ATSDR Administrator, Dr. Gerberding was Acting Deputy Director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), where she played a major role in leading CDC´s response to the anthrax bioterrorism events of 2001.  She joined CDC in 1998 as Director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, NCID, where she developed CDC´s patient safety initiatives and other programs to prevent infections, antimicrobial resistance, and medical errors in healthcare settings.  Prior to coming to CDC, Dr. Gerberding was a faculty member at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and directed the Prevention Epicenter, a multidisciplinary research, training, and clinical service program that focused on preventing infections in patients and their healthcare providers.  Dr. Gerberding is a Clinical Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at Emory University and an Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at UCSF.

She earned a B.A. magna cum laude in chemistry and biology and a M.D. at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.  Dr. Gerberding then completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at UCSF, where she also served as Chief Medical Resident before completing her fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology and Infectious Diseases at UCSF. She earned a M.P.H. degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1990.

Dr. Gerberding is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha (medical honor society), American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), American College of Physicians, Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Epidemiology Society, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the Institute of Medicine.

In the past, Dr. Gerberding served as a member of CDC´s National Center for Infectious Diseases´ Board of Scientific Counselors, the CDC HIV Advisory Committee, and the Scientific Program Committee, National Conference on Human Retroviruses.  She has also been a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, the American Medical Association, CDC, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National AIDS Commission, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and the World Health Organization.

Dr. Gerberding´s editorial activities have included appointment to the Editorial Board of the Annals of Internal Medicine; appointment as an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Medicine; and service as a peer-reviewer for numerous internal medicine, infectious diseases, and epidemiology journals.  Her scientific interests encompass patient safety and prevention of infections and antimicrobial resistance among patients and their healthcare providers.  She has authored or co-authored more than 140 peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters and contributed to numerous guidelines and policies relevant to HIV prevention, post-exposure prophylaxis, management of infected healthcare personnel, and healthcare-associated infection prevention.

Dr. Gerberding resides in Atlanta with her husband, David, who is a software engineer.  Her step-daughter, Renada, is a law student at the University of Virginia.  Dr. Gerberding relaxes by scuba diving, reading on the beach, gardening, and doting on her three cats.