CDC director to take pay cut of more than $165k

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will take a pay cut of more than $165,000, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Robert Redfield will be paid $209,700 a year, HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said in an email. Oakley said Redfield’s new compensation is being calculated using the same formula used to pay the prior three agency directors.

Redfield asked HHS Secretary Alex Azar for a pay cut April 30, after Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) raised questions about his $375,000 annual compensation, which was more than double what his predecessor earned. HHS previously wouldn’t disclose Redfield’s new salary.

According to HHS, the last reported annual salary for Julie Gerberding was $207,000; the last salary for Dr. Thomas Frieden was $209,700; and the last salary for Brenda Fitzgerald was $193,700.

According to HHS, those former directors received a “physician comparability allowance,” or PCA. HHS policy authorizes payment of a PCA when a candidate is “eminently qualified for the position.”

Fitzgerald received a lower PCA because she had not previously served as a government physician for at least two years, HHS said.