Health
Biden Is Said to Pick Former North Carolina Health Secretary to Lead C.D.C.

President Biden plans to name Dr. Mandy Cohen, a former North Carolina health secretary who steered her state through the tumultuous first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to two people familiar with the selection process.
The selection of Dr. Cohen, which was first reported by The Washington Post, is not final. The White House is still putting together the necessary paperwork to make the appointment official, according to another person familiar with the selection process. But Dr. Cohen is the leading candidate, this person said.
The White House declined to comment. Dr. Cohen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If chosen by Mr. Biden, Dr. Cohen, an internist, would replace Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, an infectious disease expert who announced last month that she would step down at the end of June. Dr. Walensky led the C.D.C. through difficult times; the agency had grown demoralized under President Donald J. Trump and drew fierce criticism under both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden.
As secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services under Gov. Roy Cooper from 2017 to 2021, Dr. Cohen established herself as a familiar and steady voice who maintained the public’s trust despite deep political divisions, people who worked with her said.
Addressing graduating students at Guilford College in North Carolina last month, Dr. Cohen made trust the theme of her commencement speech. “Change happens at the pace of trust,” she said, adding that while it was possible to motivate people to change their behavior by scaring them, “fear will only get you so far.”
One point in Dr. Cohen’s favor is that, unlike Dr. Walensky, she has previous experience in the federal government. Before becoming North Carolina’s health secretary, she held several posts in the Obama administration, including serving as chief operating officer and chief of staff at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Dr. Cohen is currently an executive at Aledade, a company that offers support to physicians and community health clinics.
Although Congress passed legislation last year requiring that the C.D.C. director be subject to Senate confirmation, the provision does not take effect until 2025, so Dr. Cohen could begin serving right away.
“Mandy Cohen used a steady hand to help my administration lead North Carolina through the pandemic to be among the states with the lowest deaths and job losses per capita,” Mr. Cooper, a Democrat, said in a statement. “She is a brilliant, talented and battle-tested leader who would be a fantastic C.D.C. director.”
Public health experts who know Dr. Cohen or have worked with her said her experience leading North Carolina’s pandemic response and her years at federal agencies would be a tremendous asset for a C.D.C. director. The C.D.C. has repeatedly come under fire during the pandemic for its muddled messaging, but Dr. Cohen drew praise as a clear communicator.
“North Carolina is a purple state, which is relevant when, you know, we were in a public health emergency that was extremely politicized,” said Dr. Neel Shah, the chief medical officer of Maven Clinic, a digital health care provider, who has known Dr. Cohen since they were both medical residents at Massachusetts General Hospital. He said Dr. Cohen “did an outstanding job of having an impact in that kind of climate.”
In the public health community, Dr. Cohen has a reputation for creating innovative programs, including a workaround to allow state governments to use Medicaid dollars to help low-income people with housing, food security and other needs that can affect their health.
“People talk about North Carolina with a measure of excitement in their voice,” said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who worked closely with Dr. Cohen when he was Maryland’s health secretary and she was a federal official.
The pandemic revealed a deep rift between public health and medicine, and Dr. Cohen is trying to bridge that divide, in part by having primary care physicians deliver preventive care, Dr. Sharfstein said.
“There’s a lot of opportunity at the intersection of health care and public health, and C.D.C. has not really been able to take advantage of those opportunities,” he said.

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Health
Most sleep-deprived cities in US revealed in report: Where does yours rank?

Where you live could affect how you sleep at night.
New research from Innerbody revealed that some areas of the country are more sleep-deprived than others.
The study used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other benchmarks from the 100 most populous cities in the U.S., ranking each on sleep duration and quality.
HERE’S WHY 90% OF AMERICANS DON’T SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT, ACCORDING TO EXPERT
For each city, the researchers analyzed the prevalence of five metrics — physical activity, obesity, alcohol consumption, mental distress, and noise and light pollution — all of which can impact sleep quality.
Researchers analyzed how physical activity, obesity, alcohol consumption, mental distress, and noise and light pollution impact sleep across the country. (iStock)
Below are the top 10 most sleep-deprived cities, according to the study results.
- Norfolk, Virginia
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Detroit, Michigan
- Toledo, Ohio
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Laredo, Texas
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Memphis, Tennessee
The researchers noted that many of these cities are in the eastern half of the U.S., and Ohio appears multiple times.
HEAT EXPOSURE LINKED TO BETTER SLEEP, EXPERTS SAY — HERE’S WHY
While these cities ranked as the most overall sleep-deprived, Honolulu, Hawaii, placed No. 1 for worst sleep duration, with 42.3% of adults getting fewer than seven hours of shuteye per night.
That’s followed by Norfolk, Virginia; New Orleans, Louisiana; Detroit, Michigan; and Huntsville, Alabama.

Norfolk, Virginia, is the No. 1 most sleep-deprived city, research shows. (iStock)
Memphis, Tennessee, ranked No. 1 for the city with the worst sleep quality, followed by New Orleans, Louisiana; Norfolk, Virginia; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Corpus Christi, Texas.
JUST ONE NIGHT OF POOR SLEEP COULD HAVE THESE SURPRISING HEALTH EFFECTS
The study also identified the country’s least sleep-deprived cities, listed below.
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Seattle, Washington
- San Jose, California
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Boise, Idaho
- St. Paul, Minnesota
- Denver, Colorado
- Lincoln, Nebraska
- Oakland, California
- San Francisco, California
The researchers commented that cooler temperatures in some of these locations could boost sleep quality.

Newark, New Jersey, suffers the most in sleep quality due to light and sound pollution, the study found. (iStock)
Sleep expert Wendy Troxel, PhD – a RAND Corporation senior behavioral specialist and licensed clinical psychologist in Utah – confirmed in an interview with Fox News Digital that, per her own research, location can have an impact on sleep.
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“It’s often said that your zip code can influence your health as much as your genetic code,” she said. “Together, these results highlight that this saying holds true for sleep health as well.”
“It’s often said that your zip code can influence your health as much as your genetic code.”
Troxel’s latest research, published in the journal Sleep Health, showed that improving sleep health requires “moving beyond individual-focused approaches and considering broader strategies” in relation to neighborhoods, she said.
This includes investing in neighborhood improvements to enhance sleep quality and overall population health.
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“Considering the strong connection between sleep health issues and preventable chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and stroke, our findings suggest that interventions aimed at improving neighborhood conditions could yield significant benefits,” she added.
Health
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