Former CDC Heads Warn Of Morale Problems

WASHINGTON — Former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday that morale problems and questions of scientific integrity pose a challenge to the centers' future role in U.S. public health.

"Science is nothing without people," said Dr. William Foege, who ran the center from 1977 until 1983, "and there's a perception now that politics trumps science and truth."

"This is not just with FDA decisions or climate change or at EPA," he said. "We see this in public health as well."

Citing an example of politics dictating CDC decisions, Foege said that in April 2004, the World Health Organization requested the participation of CDC scientists at a conference, and the office of then-HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson insisted on clearing the participants.

Foege appeared with four other former CDC directors at a symposium sponsored by the George Washington University School of Health.

Responding to a question about challenges faced by the center in the 21st century, Foege said that it is hard to keep top-flight scientists at the agency when "people debate the efficacy of condoms or the need for vaccinations."

"I think the role of science that has always characterized CDC needs to be strengthened," he said.

Former CDC directors Jeffrey Koplan (1998-2002), David Satcher (1993-1998), William Roper (1990-1993) and Jams Mason (1983-1989) also appeared at the symposium. Dr. David Sencer, who headed the agency from 1966 until 1977, was unable to attend.

In comments relayed through Koplan for the meeting, Sencer said morale and retention of top officials are serious problems at CDC.

Koplan said Sencer told him "bright young scientists are the lifeblood of the agency" and expressed some concern in its ability to attract them in the current setting.

All were asked to describe what they viewed as the Atlanta-based agency's main "challenges," and Foege and Koplan both said they included scientific integrity and professional morale.

Morale problems and the exit of several top administrators prompted CDC Director Julie Gerberding last summer to appoint an ombudsman to hear employee complaints.

"Maintaining public trust in scientific integrity at a time when there is a perception of political ideology intruding into public health decisions and public health policy" is one of the major issues faced by the centers, Koplan said.

Koplan is vice president for health affairs at Emory University Health Sciences Center, and Foege is professor emeritus of public health at Emory.

Roper said the agency has suffered from its own prominence. "The closer it is to the political process, the harder it is to function as a world health agency," he said.

"I think that this has turned out to be an anti-science age in the government," Foege said. "I can't imagine that we ever would have debated whether condoms were effective when I was there."

Satcher, director of the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities at Morehouse School of Medicine, said getting sufficient funds and dealing with health disparities were among the center's top challenges.

In an interview following the symposium, he said he thought a recent reorganization at the center had much to do with the morale problems.

"I have been reluctant to criticize Julie," he said, referring to director Gerberding, "but I think a lot of the senior people who left were unhappy about the way it was reorganized."