Newly appointed CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, resigned from his positions at four groups, including a gene therapy biotechnology company and AIDS organization, to meet government ethics rules, according to Dr. Redfield's financial disclosures obtained by The Washington Post.
Dr. Redfield, a longtime HIV/AIDS researcher, started the position in March, replacing Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, who left the position in January after an investigation revealed her financial holdings conflicted with her role as CDC director.
"The job of CDC Director is very important to me," Dr. Redfield said in a statement issued April 17. "Therefore, I have worked closely with the HHS Ethics Office to comply with all reporting requirements of the Ethics in Government Act."
Dr. Redfield, a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, said he divested stock holdings he had in two private biotechnology companies. Dr. Redfield is recusing himself from participating in matters involving the University of Maryland and seven other organizations, according to his ethics agreement and a memorandum about his recusals obtained by The Washington Post.
The organizations Dr. Redfield left include American Gene Technologies International, a gene therapy company where the CDC director served as an adviser, the Children's AIDS Fund International, where Dr. Redfield was also a director and his role as a consultant at Guidepoint Global.
Dr. Redfield will also no longer be a consultant for four law firms or as a speaker for a medical education company.
Additionally, before he began his CDC role, Dr. Redfield sold his stock in vaccine-development company Profectus BioSciences and his stock in American Gene Technologies, according to his ethics agreement.