• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Drug Delivery Business

  • Clinical Trials
  • Research & Development
  • Drug-Device Combinations
  • FDA
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Policy

CDC chief propped up controversial anti-aging medicine in private practice

July 17, 2017 By Sarah Faulkner

CDCBefore the newly-appointed CDC head Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald ran the public health department for the state of Georgia, she was a board-certified OB/GYN with a private practice. But according to a report from Forbes, she not only provided women’s healthcare in the 30 years she practiced medicine – she was also a fellow in “anti-aging medicine.”

The controversial kinds of treatment endorsed by Fitzgerald were reportedly described as “snake-oil” by Dr. David Goldstein, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the New York University School of Medicine.

Her official biography on the Health and Human Services site does not list her as a fellow in anti-aging medicine, but an article from 2013 about the Georgia Dept. of Public Health references her as such and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) mentioned it in his statement praising her appointment to CDC chief.

Forbes dug up information listed on her gynecology practice’s website from 2010, where her credentials including board certification in anti-aging and regenerative medicine by the American Academy in Anti-Aging Medicine. However, the news outlet pointed out that the group that certifies physicians, the American Board of Medical Specialties, doesn’t recognize the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine.

The group supports the use of intravenous nutritional therapy and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. But these practices are widely criticized by physicians, including one who described a patient whose hair fell out because she was rubbing testosterone cream into her skin every day, according to a blog that the physician wrote.

While some were encouraged that the Trump administration picked Fitzgerald, who publicly supports vaccines, her previous work with anti-aging treatments are raising eyebrows in the medical community.

“I’m so disappointed that the first female OB/GYN picked to head the CDC is someone who embraces the unproven and anti-scientific claims of the so-called anti-aging movement,” Cindy Pearson, executive director of the National Women’s Health Network, told Forbes.

Want to stay on top of DDBN content? Sign up for our e-mail newsletter for a weekly dose of drug-device news.

Filed Under: Featured, Hospital Care, Pharmaceuticals, Policy, Women's Health Tagged With: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

  • Flat Medical partners with Mercury Medical on smart syringe distribution
  • Glucotrack to effect a reverse stock split
  • Medtronic unveils ‘MiniMed’ as name for soon-to-be separated Diabetes unit
  • Insulet, Marvel collab to unveil comic book hero with type 1 diabetes
  • Insulet rolls out new Omnipod 5 iPhone app for use with Dexcom G7

Primary Sidebar

“ddb
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest news and trends happening now in drug delivery.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.

Footer

Drug Delivery Business News Logo

MassDevice Medical NETWORK

MassDevice
DeviceTalks
Medical Tubing + Extrusion
Medical Design & Outsourcing
MedTech100 Index
Drug Discovery & Development
Pharmaceutical Processing World
Medical Design Sourcing
R&D World

DRUG DELIVERY BUSINESS NEWS

Subscribe to Drug Delivery’s E-Newsletter
Advertise with us
About
Contact us
Privacy
Listen to our Weekly Podcasts

Copyright © 2025 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy | RSS