Cindy Friedman, MD

Dr. Cindy Friedman is the chief of The Travelers’ Health Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She came to CDC as an epidemic intelligence officer in 1995 after completing an internal medicine residency at Seton Hall University and an infectious diseases fellowship at Cornell University Medical College. She has over 25 years of experience working in a variety of public health positions, including at The Fogarty International Center at NIH, with The Federal Bureau of Investigation during the Anthrax response, as medical director for CDC’s Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work, and as the lead of CDC’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System. Dr Friedman’s research has been focused on antimicrobial resistance for which she has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and served on several advisory boards.

Most recently, Dr. Friedman led the Cruise Ship Task Force for the COVID-19 response, helping navigate the safe disembarkation and repatriation of more than 260,000 passengers and crew, while providing critical support for the triage and medical evacuations of 41 COVID-19-affected cruise ships. This included the repatriation of hundreds of American passengers aboard the Diamond Princess in Japan, as well as the quarantine of passengers aboard the Grand Princess in California.

She currently lives in Atlanta with her husband, two teenage children, and four Scottish Terriers.