Brendan Farrington/AP

By Sarah Owermohle, Matthew Herper, and Rachel Cohrs Zhang

Nov. 22, 2024

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has selected Dave Weldon, a physician and former congressman who has questioned vaccine safety and fought for abortion limits, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Weldon represented a Florida district in the House of Representatives for more than two decades, including stints with the Appropriations Committee and the panel on oversight and reform. Trump nodded to those roles in his announcement, saying that Weldon has been a “respected conservative leader on fiscal and social issues.”

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Weldon will be the first CDC director nominee to go through the Senate confirmation process. “I have firmly advocated for reforming the CDC,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is slated to run the health committee that will hold Weldon’s confirmation hearing, wrote on X after the announcement. “I look forward to learning about Doctor Weldon’s vision for the CDC.”

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  1. Sarah Owermohle

    Washington Correspondent

    Sarah Owermohle reports on the administration’s health care initiatives, federal health policy, and its intersection with politics and the courts. She joined STAT in 2022 after covering health policy at Politico. She is also the co-author of the free, twice-weekly D.C. Diagnosis newsletter.

  2. Matthew Herper

    Senior Writer, Medicine, Editorial Director of Events

    Matthew Herper covers medical innovation — both its promise and its perils.

  3. Rachel Cohrs Zhang

    Chief Washington Correspondent

    Rachel Cohrs Zhang reports on the intersection of health policy and business in Washington. She covers Capitol Hill, lobbying, and federal agencies. Her primary areas of focus are the pharmaceutical and hospital industries. She is also the co-author of the free, twice-weekly D.C. Diagnosis newsletter.