Richard Besser

According to D D Chandakkar, deputy health officer of the PMC, Kabir Jalindar Bhise, a resident of village Bawda in Indapur taluka, died at the Noble Hospital.... read full » Read Full Story

ABC News has hired a top government doctor as part of an expansion of its medical coverage. Dr. Richard Besser, who was acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when the swine flu epidemic began earlier this year, will join the network as senior health and medical editor. ABC also promoted its longtime health commentator, Dr. Timothy Johnson, to chief medical editor. Johnson is a regular on "Good Morning America," "Nightline" and "20/20." "Over 30 years, Dr. Tim has established himself as the leading on-air authority for all things related to health and medicine," most recently on health care reform, ... Read Full Story

President Barack Obama on Friday appointed Dr. Thomas Frieden as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, turning to New York City's health commissioner to deal with the swine flu outbreak and other major health issues. Frieden has served as commissioner for the past seven years, where he led a campaign to ban smoking in restaurants and bars, boosted the number of New Yorkers getting HIV tests and helped to distribute millions of free condoms. In a statement announcing Frieden's appointment, Obama said the new CDC chief had been a "leader in the fight for health care reform, and his experiences confronting ... Read Full Story

ATLANTA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday named Dr. Thomas Frieden, who made New York the first city in the nation to ban smoking in restaurants, as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Frieden, 48, New York's top health official since January 2002, also made the city the nation's first to eliminate trans-fats from restaurants. He will take over an organization that in recent weeks has been central to global efforts to understand and combat the H1N1 flu virus, which has killed 65 people including 60 in Mexico and infected nearly 6,500 people in 33 countries. "Frieden ... Read Full Story

Cancel plans for that "swine flu party": a top US health official says deliberately trying to get infected with the A(H1N1) flu virus as protection against a future more virulent strain is a bad idea. Having "swine flu party" is "a big mistake," said Richard Besser, the acting head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "This is a new, emerging infection, and we're learning more about it each day," Besser said. "But how an individual person will be impacted by the infection is not something that we know," Besser said Thursday. "It's a big mistake putting individuals and children at ... Read Full Story