In episode 62 of Going anti-Viral, Dr Rochelle Walensky joins host Dr Michael Saag on World AIDS Day 2025 to discuss her experience as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the COVID-19 pandemic and the current state of public health in the United States. Dr Walensky is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and has published over 300 research articles that have motivated changes to US HIV testing and immigration policy and promoted expanded funding for HIV-related research, treatment, and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Dr Walensky reflects on her experience during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts where she was the Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr Saag and Dr Walensky then discuss her transition to the Director of the CDC and her management of the agency during the pandemic. Dr Walensky and Dr Saag emphasize the dedication of public health professionals and the need for continued support and understanding of the challenges they face. They discuss the risk of proposed budget cuts to the CDC and the impacts this will have on the agency as well as state and local public health departments. Finally, they discuss the future of public health and their shared optimism for public health over the long-term.

0:00 – Introduction

1:41 – Management of the early outbreak of COVID-19 in Massachusetts and reflections on the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in March of 2020

11:50 – Transition to lead the CDC and reflections on the difficult job of management of the CDC during a pandemic

24:00 – Navigating COVID-19 variants and the challenge of public health recommendations for wearing masks and vaccination

28:24 – Outlook on the future of public health and the CDC and the risks of proposed budget cuts on state and local public health agencies 

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Produced by IAS-USA, Going anti–Viral is a podcast for clinicians involved in research and care in HIV, its complications, and other viral infections. This podcast is intended as a technical source of information for specialists in this field, but anyone listening will enjoy learning more about the state of modern medicine around viral infections.

Going anti-Viral’s host is Dr Michael Saag, a physician, prominent HIV researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and volunteer IAS–USA board member. In most episodes, Dr Saag interviews an expert in infectious diseases or emerging pandemics about their area of specialty and current developments in the field. Other episodes are drawn from the IAS–USA vast catalogue of panel discussions, Dialogues, and other audio from various meetings and conferences.

Email [email protected] to send feedback, show suggestions, or questions to be answered on a later episode.

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