The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stepping down, according to an email sent Friday night to employees of the US Department of Health and Human Services, which the CDC is part of.

 

Dr. Julie Gerberding wants to quit her job as director of the CDC, her place being filled by a deputy as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated.

 

Dr. Gerberding was the first woman to run the CDC, which has about 9,000 government employees and 5,000 contract workers. The agency investigates disease outbreaks, researches the cause and prevalence of health problems, and promotes illness prevention efforts.

 

Dr. Gerberding was named director in July 2002. Previously, she had been an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

 

In an e-mail message to staff members dated November 2007, she said she expected that she might leave the post after the Bush administration left office. But colleagues said she had hoped that she would be allowed to keep her post.

 

CDC spokesman Glen Nowak said, “the Bush administration requested resignation letters from a number of senior-level officials, including Dr. Gerberding, as part of the transition process. This week, the Administration accepted Dr. Gerberding's resignation, effective January 20.”

 

Dr. Gerberding is also head of the sister agency to the C.D.C., the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

 

She was unavailable for comment, as she was traveling in Africa on CDC business, Nowak said.