Robert Redfield, an HIV/AIDS expert at the University of Maryland Medical Center, is seen as the White House’s favored candidate to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to Politico.

The Trump administration is currently vetting Redfield. He is seen as the top choice to replace former CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald Brenda FitzgeraldThe hollowing out of the CDC Overnight Health Care: Drug company under scrutiny for Michael Cohen payments | New Ebola outbreak | FDA addresses EpiPen shortage CDC director to take pay cut of more than 5k MORE, who resigned earlier this year after it was discovered that she had traded tobacco stocks while running the CDC.

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The White House’s choice to head the public health agency is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, Politico reported.

The agency is reportedly conducting a careful vetting of Redfield after Fitzgerald's financial conflicts forced her to recuse herself from a number of the CDC’s primary issues.

Redfield co-founded the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland and served on former President George W. Bush’s advisory council on HIV/AIDS.