Biden picks Massachusetts infectious disease specialist to head CDC

Joe Biden plans to nominate the Chief of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, Rochelle Walensky, as Director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Politico reports.
Walensky, who is also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, is set to replace Robert Redfield, who became the head of CDC in March 2018, Politico said.
Biden plans to announce Walensky’s nomination this week, Politico said.
Politico said that other top health official nominations, including Jeff Zients as the coronavirus coordinator and Vivek Murthy as surgeon general, would also be announced in the coming days.
Earlier on Sunday, The New York Times reported that Biden intended to pick California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as his nominee for secretary of health and human services.
NBC reported on Sunday that Biden offered Becerra the position in a phone call on Friday.
U.S. President Donald Trump authorised the General Services Administration to initiate a formal transition to the Biden team in November, while continuing to dispute the outcome of the presidential election.