Manisha Patel, MD, MS, MBA

Manisha Patel, MD, MS, MBA, is a pediatric infectious diseases physician who currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for the National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases and is a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Patel brings more than 15 years of leadership and technical experience in surveillance, study design and implementation, emergency response, and vaccine policy and communications for vaccine-preventable and other respiratory diseases. As CMO, she directs and oversees cross-cutting and multi-functional program activities including NCIRD’s healthcare provider strategy and outreach.

Thomas (Dan) Filardo, MD

Thomas (Dan) Filardo, MD, is a physician trained in Internal Medicine and Adult Infectious Diseases. He joined the CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer in 2021 with the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, and has served as a Medical Officer with the Measles, Rubella, and cCMV team since 2023.

CAPT David Sugerman, MD, MPH

David Sugerman, MD, MPH, is a medical officer in the Division of Viral Diseases, serving as Team Lead for the Measles, Rubella, and Cytomegalovirus Team. During his CDC career, he’s played key roles in the agency’s injury prevention, global field epidemiology workforce development, and vaccine preventable disease work. He is an alumnus of CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) program, assigned to the San Diego County Health Department and CDC Quarantine Station. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson Medical College, completed a Masters of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and his residency in emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Sugerman serves as editor for several scientific journals and has published over 40 scientific papers.

Christopher Prestel, MD

Christopher Prestel, MD, is a Medical Officer on the Hospital Infection Prevention Team at CDC, with pediatric infectious diseases expertise. As a national subject matter expert in pediatric infection prevention and control, Dr. Prestel leads efforts to strengthen infection prevention practices across pediatric care settings. His work spans from enhancing infection control in neonatal intensive care units to curbing the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms in children’s hospitals and beyond. He also contributes to the development of tools that help healthcare facilities assess and address their infection control needs. Dr. Prestel has played an active role in international and national infectious disease responses, including Ebola and Marburg viruses in Africa and measles responses.

Sandra Fryhofer, MD

Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD, a board-certified physician of internal medicine, was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in June 2018 and served as its chair in 2022–23. A graduate of Emory University School of Medicine, where she is now an adjunct clinical associate professor of medicine, Dr. Fryhofer maintains a full-time general internal medicine practice in Atlanta. As a member of the AMA House of Delegates since 1999, Dr. Fryhofer has been active in the AMA for almost two decades. Twice elected to the AMA Council on Science and Public Health, including serving as its chair in 2012–2013, Dr. Fryhofer has also served as the council’s representative to the Commission to End Health Care Disparities and to the National Influenza Summit. For many years she has also served as the AMA liaison to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, including on work groups for COVID-19, flu, zoster, HPV, cholera, pneumococcal, Tdap and polio vaccines, and the adult schedule. Dr. Fryhofer has chaired the AMA Convention Committee on Rules and Credentials and served on the AMA Select Committee. In her role as trustee, she has been appointed to the Scope of Practice Partnership and as board liaison to the AMA Advisory Committee on LGBTQ Issues, the AMA Minority Affairs Section, the AMA Council on Medical Service, the AMA Senior Physician Section, the AMA Council on Legislation, the AMA Resident and Fellow Section, and the AMA Young Physicians Section. In 2023 she became the first chair of the AMA’s Gun Violence Task Force. In addition to leadership roles at the AMA, Dr. Fryhofer served as president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the world’s largest medical specialty society. When elected in 2000, she was the youngest person and only the second woman to hold that office in the ACP’s then 85-year history. She also served on the ACP Board of Regents and chaired its Committee on Women’s Health. Her work on behalf of internal medicine was rewarded with a mastership in ACP and a fellowship in Great Britain’s Royal College of Physicians. Dr. Fryhofer, who received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with high honors from Georgia Tech, has extensive experience in medical communications. She has testified before Congress and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on several occasions for the AMA and the ACP. A regular contributor to the AMA’s COVID Update/AMA Update video and podcast series, she has served as a national spokesperson for the ACP’s “Doctors for Adults” public education campaign, a medical correspondent for CNN Headline News, and a host of “Your Health Matters” on Georgia’s PBS affiliate. Dr. Fryhofer also wrote “Vital Signs,” a weekly column on the CNN website, in addition to a video editorial series called “Medicine Matters” and a viewpoint series entitled “Staying Well,” both of which appeared on WebMD’s Medscape.