The Trump administration on Friday nominated Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fitzgerald earned a Bachelor of Science at Georgia State University and a medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine. She is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and has served as the public health commissioner of Georgia since 2011. She saw patients in private practice for 30 years prior to her position with the state.  Fitzgerald replaces acting director Dr. Anna Schuchat, who assumed the role in January 2017 after CDC Director Tom Frieden stepped down from office.

Fitzgerald has served as a Major in the US Air Force and was once the president of the Georgia OB-GYN Society. She is also a two-time Republican congressional candidate, having lost Georgia’s 7th Congressional District twice in the early 1990s. As head of Georgia’s health department, Fitzgerald pushed for early-intervention programs to improve maternal health and prevent childhood obesity.

Fitzgerald has expressed moderate views on key health issues. According to Fitzgerald, the three responsibilities of public health work are inspections, disease surveillance, and emergency response.

In response to her appointment, Fitzgerald remarked that she is “confident that the successes we’ve had in Georgia will provide me with a foundation for guiding the work of the CDC.”