Dr. Robert R. Redfield, M.D., is a prominent virologist and public health leader with over 45 years of medical experience. From 2018 to 2021, he served as the 18th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. During this time, Dr. Redfield played a critical role in guiding the CDC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and was a key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Dr. Redfield’s career is marked by his deep commitment to virology, particularly in the study of HIV and other infectious diseases. Prior to his tenure at the CDC, he spent more than 20 years as a U.S. Army physician and medical researcher at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where he founded the Department of Retroviral Research. His groundbreaking work in HIV/AIDS research included demonstrating the importance of heterosexual transmission, developing the Walter Reed staging system for HIV infection, and identifying active HIV replication across all stages of the disease.
In 1996, Dr. Redfield co-founded the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. There, he served as Director of Clinical Care and Research, Chief of Infectious Diseases, Vice Chair of Medicine, and a tenured professor. His leadership extended to providing care for over 5,000 HIV patients in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area, as well as contributing to various national and international HIV/AIDS advisory bodies.
After his time at the CDC, Dr. Redfield served as senior public health advisor to Governor Larry Hogan and the State of Maryland. He currently holds the position of Senior Visiting Fellow for biosecurity and public health policy at the Heritage Foundation.
Dr. Redfield earned both his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees from Georgetown University, laying the foundation for his extensive career in virology and infectious diseases.
In March 2023, Dr. Redfield served as the key witness in a U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee hearing titled “Investigating the Origins of COVID-19,” the first public hearing on the origin of the virus. In July 2024, he was also the key witness in a U.S. Senate committee hearing titled “Oversight of U.S. Taxpayer-Funded High-Risk Viral Research.”