The Trump administration named Georgia Public Health Commissioner Brenda Fitzgerald the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Her predecessor, Frieden, said Fitzgerald's time at the helm of the Georgia public health commission will be important experience on which she can draw.

Specifically, Dr. Fitzgerald's experience with disease prevention coupled with her background in obstetrics and gynecology has propelled her response to Zika infections in Georgia. She replaces Dr. Anne Schuchat, who has been the acting CDC director and acting ATSDR administrator since January 20.

Laura Hanen, of the National Association of County and City Health officials, said Dr. Fitzgerald understands what local health departments do, and will be a strong advocate for them.

The administration is proposing a $1.2 billion cut - 17 percent - for the agency in fiscal 2018. It would drive up health care costs.

She also came under fire after Deal said in late 2014 that he was comforted that Fitzgerald said "water kills the Ebola virus". While there, she oversaw programs to combat childhood obesity, increase vaccination rates and track Alzheimer's and dementia, according to the DPH. Fitzgerald, a Republican, ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1992 and 1994 in her state's 7th congressional District. Every president since Ronald Reagan has faced such threats, and experts say it is only a matter of time until at least one pandemic outbreak of an infectious disease confronts Trump. She served as a health care policy adviser to U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and U.S. Sen.

Fitzgerald now serves as president-elect of ASTHO, is a board-certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist, and has practiced medicine for more than three decades.

In a statement, she said: "I am humbled by the challenges that lie ahead, yet I am confident that the successes we've had in Georgia will provide me with a foundation for guiding the work of the CDC". "Listening to & supporting CDC staff, she can succeed", he wrote.

Her tenure as health commissioner was also marked by several high-profile cases of Americans infected with the Ebola virus, who were flown to Atlanta for treatment.

Fitzgerald drew headlines for a decision to rescind a job offer to a California physician initially offered a job as a North Georgia health director after reports surfaced about controversial sermons he made condemning gay rights and the theory of evolution.

Fitzgerald is a former Air Force Major, and now serves as the Public Health Commissioner for the state of Georgia.

Fitzgerald received her medical degree and completed her training at Emory University. She trained at Emory-Grady Hospitals in Atlanta, and as an Air Force major she served at the Wurtsmith Air Force Strategic Air Command in MI and at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington.