Who Is Mandy Cohen? Physician Expected as Biden's Next CDC Director

President Joe Biden is set to select Dr. Mandy Cohen, former health secretary for North Carolina, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to several media outlets.

Cohen's nomination was first reported by The Washington Post, which cited three people with "direct knowledge" of the physician's pending announcement. According to the report Thursday, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra congratulated Cohen this week on her selection.

Politico, which also spoke to three people with knowledge of the subject, reported that Biden is expected to formally announce Cohen as the next CDC lead this month. The White House declined comment when reached by the outlet, and Politico's sources "cautioned" that Cohen's selection had yet to be finalized.

Cohen, who received her medical degree from Yale and a master's in public health from Harvard, served as secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) for five years before stepping down in January 2022. She now works in the private sector as executive vice president and chief executive officer of Aledade Care Solutions at Aledade Inc., a health consulting firm based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Newsweek has reached out to the HHS public affairs office via email for additional information.

Cohen's Tenure in the Old North State

Cohen was first selected as NCDHHS secretary in 2017 by North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. Her five-year tenure was largely marked by helping Cooper expand the state's Medicaid program, according to a report from NC Health News, which said that Cohen was able "to listen to and talk with" politicians on both sides of the aisle to end a decades-long fight over implementing the program.

As health secretary, Cohen also led North Carolina's response to the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on creating trust and transparency to help build residents' confidence in public health care.

"In the very early days of the pandemic response, well before North Carolina even saw its first case of COVID, we called out 'building trust with the public' as the thing that would determine success or failure in COVID response," Cohen said while speaking at Guilford College's commencement ceremony last month. "We called it out and we named it. We actively managed it every day."

Prior to serving as secretary, Cohen worked in the administration of former President Barack Obama as senior official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), responsible for overseeing federal health insurance coverage for more than 140 million people, the Post reported.

Cooper told Spectrum News correspondent Reuben Jones on Thursday that he believed Cohen would make "a fantastic CDC director," praising her performance at the NCDHHS.

"Mandy Cohen used a steady hand to help my administration lead North Carolina through the pandemic to be among the states with the lowest deaths and job losses per capita," Cooper said. "She is a brilliant, talented and battle-tested leader who would be a fantastic CDC director."

Distrust Surrounding the CDC

Cohen would be reentering the public health field during a time of distrust and increased scrutiny over the CDC following the U.S. response to COVID-19. The department's current director, Rochelle Walensky, announced last month that she would be stepping down from her position on June 30.

According to a survey published in March by Health Affairs, roughly a quarter of adults in America say they trust the CDC's recommendations on COVID-19 "not very much" or "not at all," based off the responses of 4,208 participants.

Republican lawmakers have been particularly critical of the CDC's actions since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. While speaking to Roll Call on Thursday, Republican Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy said that the agency "needs a cultural overhaul" when asked about what he would like to see in a new CDC director.

"You need somebody who is able to overcome the inertia of bureaucracy to complete such an effort," Cassidy added.