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Quiet ‘whiz kid’ now public face of Ebola fight

In this Oct. 16, 2014, photo, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Last May, as Ebola crept across West Africa, America’s top infectious disease expert told a group of Harvard students in a commencement speech to always second-guess their assumptions because "overconfidence can kill."Five months later in a hearing room on Capitol Hill, Frieden was accused of not following his own advice _ repeatedly assuring the nation it was safe from an Ebola outbreak even as two U.S. nurses became infected and one was allowed to board a commercial airline, each following safety protocols Frieden helped put in place. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) In this Oct. 16, 2014, photo, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Last May, as Ebola crept across West Africa, America’s top infectious disease expert told a group of Harvard students in a commencement speech to always second-guess their assumptions because "overconfidence can kill."Five months later in a hearing room on Capitol Hill, Frieden was accused of not following his own advice _ repeatedly assuring the nation it was safe from an Ebola outbreak even as two U.S. nurses became infected and one was allowed to board a commercial airline, each following safety protocols Frieden helped put in place. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

By Associated Press October 17, 2014 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – If you are following the Ebola scare, chances are you’ve heard of Tom Frieden (FREE’-den), the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Who is he? Frieden is a 53-year-old father of two who began his CDC career as a tuberculosis expert. He also was health commissioner for New York City, where he helped put in place a ban on trans fats. When he returned to the CDC in 2009 as its director, Frieden was faced with a global swine flu pandemic.

Frieden grew up in Westchester County in New York to a cardiologist father and a mother who practiced law. He studied both philosophy and pre-med at Oberlin College in Ohio before getting both his medical degree and master’s in public health from Columbia University.