Gimson, CDC’s No. 2 administrator, retires

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s No. 2 administrator announced his retirement Wednesday.

William Gimson, the CDC’s chief operating officer for the past six years and its shortest-lived interim director, stepped down after 35 years at the public health agency.

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William Gimson

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Gimson earned a master’s in business administration degree from Duke University and in 2003 was named the federal agency’s first COO by its former chief, Julie Gerberding.

He oversaw day-to-day operations and the construction of seven new buildings, the largest construction progam in the agency’s history, said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner.

Gimson also took several trips to Iraq as part of a joint Defense Department and Human Health Services program to restart the country’s health care infrastructure.

Gerberding was ousted in January in the wake of then-impending transition at the White House. Gimson served for just three days as interim director until a new interim director was chosen, Skinner said.

Gimson “knew full well” that the Department of Health and Human Services wanted a physician in the roll of CDC director, “and he was willing to do whatever they felt needed to be done,” Skinner said.

The 57-year-old Gimson did not say what his plans are beyond the CDC.

While Skinner said he had no indication Wednesday other senior managers were planning to leave the Center, he said, “As we go through this transition, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more senior managers move on to other opportunities.”