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-Dr. **Rochelle Walensky** is an American public health official based in [[united_states:Washington, D.C.]] She serves as the Director of the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] (CDC).
+Dr. **Rochelle Walensky** is an American public health official based in [[united_states:Washington, D.C.]] She serves as the Director of the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] (CDC) and the administrator of the [[Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry]] (ATSDR).((//New CDC Director.// (2021, January 20). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20230429141836/https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s0120-rochelle-walensky.html))
 According to her profile on the [[Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health]]’s [[Prevention Policy Modeling Lab]] website, Walensky has been “internationally recognized for motivating US policy toward the promotion of routine [[HIV]] screening and for her work on effective and efficient strategies of HIV care in [[africa:South Africa]].”((//Rochelle Walensky.// Prevention Policy Modeling Lab. Retrieved February 2, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230202190315/https://prevention-policy-modeling-lab.sph.harvard.edu/rochelle-walensky/))
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 Walensky was among the first signatories to the [[John Snow Memorandum]], published in the //[[Lancet]]// in October 2020 as a rebuttal to the [[Great Barrington Declaration]].((//John Snow Memorandum.// John Snow Memorandum. Retrieved January 26, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.01.26-220855/https://www.johnsnowmemo.com/john-snow-memo.html))
-On November 19, 2020, the journal //[[Health Affairs]]// published a study led by Walensky titled //Clinical Outcomes Of A COVID-19 Vaccine: Implementation Over Efficacy//.((Paltiel, A. D., Schwartz, J. L., Zheng, A., & Walensky, R. P. (2020). //Clinical outcomes of a COVID-19 vaccine: implementation over efficacy.// Health Affairs, 40(1), 10.1377/hlthaff. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.02054)) The paper argued that “factors related to implementation will contribute more to the success of vaccination programs than a vaccine’s efficacy as determined in clinical trials.” Specifically, Walensky and her team warned that things like “manufacturing or deployment delays, significant vaccine hesitancy, or greater epidemic severity” would all make the [[COVID-19 vaccines]] work less well, and that therefore, health officials should “invest greater financial resources and attention to vaccine production and distribution programs, to redouble efforts to promote public confidence in COVID-19 vaccines, and to encourage continued adherence to other mitigation approaches, even after a vaccine becomes available.”
+On November 19, 2020, the journal //[[Health Affairs]]// published a study led by Walensky titled //Clinical Outcomes Of A COVID-19 Vaccine: Implementation Over Efficacy//.((Paltiel, A. D., Schwartz, J. L., Zheng, A., & Walensky, R. P. (2020). //Clinical outcomes of a COVID-19 vaccine: implementation over efficacy.// Health Affairs, 40(1), 10.1377/hlthaff. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.02054)) The paper argued that “factors related to implementation will contribute more to the success of vaccination programs than a vaccine’s efficacy as determined in clinical trials.” Specifically, Walensky and her team warned that things like “manufacturing or deployment delays, significant [[vaccine hesitancy]], or greater [[epidemic]] severity” would all make the [[COVID-19 vaccines]] work less well, and that therefore, health officials should “invest greater financial resources and attention to vaccine production and distribution programs, to redouble efforts to promote public confidence in COVID-19 vaccines, and to encourage continued adherence to other mitigation approaches, even after a vaccine becomes available.”
 Walensky was nominated to the directorship of the CDC by President-elect [[Joe Biden]] on December 7, 2020, replacing outgoing director [[Robert Redfield]].((Booker, B. (2020, December 7). //Biden Names Massachusetts Doctor To Lead CDC.// NPR. http://archive.today/2021.05.10-214155/https://www.npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2020/12/07/943871894/biden-names-massachusetts-doctor-to-lead-cdc))
+On July 16, 2021, Walensky declared that the [[United States]] was experiencing a "pandemic of the unvaccinated," predicting increasing rates of severe illness and death among those who had not been "fully vaccinated" with the various COVID-19 vaccines.((Anthes, E., & Petri, A. (2021, July 16). //C.D.C. Director Warns of a “Pandemic of the Unvaccinated.”// The New York Times. http://archive.today/2021.12.04-220605/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/16/health/covid-delta-cdc-walensky.html))
 On May 5, 2023, Walensky announced her resignation as CDC Director, citing "the nation's progress in coping with [[COVID-19]]."((Chappell, B. (2023, May 5). //Rochelle Walensky, who led the CDC during the pandemic, resigns.// NPR. http://archive.today/2023.05.06-115616/https://www.npr.org/2023/05/05/1174349881/rochelle-walensky-who-led-the-cdc-during-the-pandemic-resigns)) The announcement coincided with the [[World Health Organization]]’s declaration that the “global health emergency” related to COVID-19 had ended.((Savin, J. (2023, May 5). //COVID-19 is officially “over”, according to the World Health Organisation.// Yahoo Life; Cosmopolitan. https://web.archive.org/web/20230511191207/https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/covid-19-officially-over-according-143000966.html)) Employees at the CDC were reportedly unaware of the news of Walensky’s departure until they heard the announcement themselves. She is set to remain in office until June 30.
+===== Activities =====
+==== Research ====
+Walensky has received funding for research and other purposes from:((Paltiel, A. D., Schwartz, J. L., Zheng, A., & Walensky, R. P. (2020). //Clinical outcomes of a COVID-19 vaccine: implementation over efficacy.// Health Affairs, 40(1), 10.1377/hlthaff. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.02054))
+  * [[CNN]]
+  * [[Massachusetts General Hospital]]
+  * [[National Institutes of Health]] (NIH)
 ==== Conflicts of Interest ====
-It has been reported that Walensky's husband, [[Loren Walensky]], co-founded [[pharmaceutical_companies:Lytica Therapeutics]] in October, 2019, and quickly received millions of dollars in HHS grants.((August 6, 2021 | RedState | [[https://redstate.com/scotthounsell/2021/08/06/exclusive-cdc-director-walenskys-husband-received-5-million-in-hhs-grants-and-thats-just-the-start-of-it-n421809|EXCLUSIVE: CDC Director Walensky's Husband Received $5 Million in HHS Grants - and That's Just the Start of It]]))
+Walensky's husband, [[Loren Walensky]], co-founded [[pharmaceutical_companies:Lytica Therapeutics]] in October 2019. The company received a grant for up to $16.9 million from the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services]] (HHS) in February 2020, for a project to "develop antibacterial peptides with broad activity against multidrug-resistant bacteria."((Hounsell, S. (2021, August 6). //EXCLUSIVE: CDC Director Walensky’s Husband Received $5 Million in HHS Grants - and That’s Just the Start of It.// RedState. https://web.archive.org/web/20230110204450/https://redstate.com/scotthounsell/2021/08/06/exclusive-cdc-director-walenskys-husband-received-5-million-in-hhs-grants-and-thats-just-the-start-of-it-n421809)) ((Robinson, J., & Finnegan, A. (2020, April 18). //CARB-X funds Lytica Therapeutics to develop antibacterial peptides to treat drug-resistant infections in the lungs and other parts of the body.// CARB-X. http://archive.today/2021.08.08-003713/https://carb-x.org/carb-x-news/carb-x-funds-lytica-therapeutics-to-develop-antibacterial-peptides-to-treat-drug-resistant-infections-in-the-lungs-and-other-parts-of-the-body/))
+The specific funding program in question, the [[Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator]] (CARB-X), is a global non-profit partnership accelerating antibacterial products to address drug-resistant bacteria. If Walensky’s Lytica Therapeutics is tasked with developing new antibiotic products to treat lung infections (like [[pneumonia]]), it stands to reason that the use of the many existing [[antibiotics]] and repurposed drugs like [[ivermectin]] would stand in the way of them fulfilling their CARB-X grant obligations.((Sturgess, L. (2023, May 12). //Deer in the Headlights.// Substack; Rounding the Earth. http://archive.today/2023.05.13-003339/https://liamsturgess.substack.com/p/deer-in-the-headlights)) This is particularly notable given the apparent role of [[bacterial pneumonia]] in a significant portion of deaths attributed to [[COVID-19]] during Walensky's term as CDC director.((Paul, M. (2023, May 5). //Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Drove Many COVID-19 Deaths.// Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. http://archive.today/2023.05.11-193941/https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2023/05/05/secondary-bacterial-pneumonia-drove-many-covid-19-deaths/))
+===== External links =====
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochelle_Walensky|Wikipedia]]
+  * [[https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Rochelle_Walensky|Wikispooks]]