President Joe Biden has selected retired Maj. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, MD, to serve as inaugural director of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, effective Aug. 7.
Dr. Friedrichs, a combat military surgeon and retired Air Force major general, currently serves as special assistant to the president and senior director for global health security and biodefense at the National Security Council. He previously served as joint staff surgeon at the Pentagon, where he helped lead COVID-19 response efforts.
The new office will serve as a command center for federal COVID-19 efforts, overseeing development of next-generation vaccines and preventing a resurgence. The office will also be responsible for the coordination of federal pandemic response efforts overall and advise the president on other public health threats.
Dr. Friedrichs' appointment and the office's launch points to a more permanent and coordinated federal effort to address rising infectious disease threats, according to The New York Times.