Tom Frieden

Thomas R. Frieden is an American physician trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases, epidemiology, and public health, who has held senior leadership roles in government health agencies and non-profit organizations focused on disease prevention. He directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2009 to 2017, the second-longest tenure in the agency's history, during which he oversaw responses to global health emergencies including the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak. Prior to the CDC, Frieden served as New York City Health Commissioner from 2002 to 2009, implementing data-driven policies that reduced smoking prevalence by over 350,000 people, banned trans fats in restaurants, and mandated calorie labeling in chain eateries.

Earlier in his career, Frieden led New York City's tuberculosis control efforts from 1992 to 1996, documenting and curbing the largest outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the United States, which reduced such cases by 80 percent. He holds an MD and MPH from Columbia University and advanced training from Yale and other institutions. Since 2017, Frieden has served as president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a global initiative partnering with governments to prevent epidemics and cardiovascular diseases through policy interventions projected to avert millions of deaths.

Frieden's career has been marked by emphasis on empirical evidence and regulatory measures to address non-communicable and infectious threats, though his approaches, such as soda size limits in New York City, drew criticism for overreach into personal choices. In 2018, he was arrested in Brooklyn on charges of third-degree sexual abuse, forcible touching, and harassment following an allegation of groping a woman; he later pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, with the original charges dismissed under a conditional discharge that sealed the record after one year of compliance.