Georgia’s health commissioner was named on Friday to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the top federal public health agency, which, under Donald Trump’s proposed budget, faces a funding cut of $1.2bn.

Dr Brenda Fitzgerald is an obstetrician-gynecologist and has been head of her state’s Department of Public Health since 2011. At 70, she has strong ties to the Republican party. She was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress twice in the 1990s and was a policy adviser to former House speaker Newt Gingrich and the late senator Paul Coverdell.

Fitzgerald was appointed to the CDC by Tom Price, another doctor who was a Republican congressman from Georgia before he was selected by Trump to head the Department of Health and Human Services. She succeeds Dr Tom Frieden, who resigned as CDC director in January, at the end of the Obama administration.

A CDC spokeswoman said Fitzgerald was not available for interviews. Frieden wished her well, and noted she will be plunged into a continuing struggle to stop reductions in the CDC’s budget and to fill hundreds of jobs that have been vacant.

The Atlanta-based CDC, which has a budget of about $12bn, investigates disease outbreaks, researches the cause and frequency of health problems and promotes prevention efforts. It is the only federal agency based outside Washington DC and has nearly 12,000 employees and 10,000 contractors worldwide.

As well as Trump’s budget proposal threatening to cut $1.2bn from the CDC, legislation to repeal and replace Obama-era healthcare law would cut other funding.

“By listening to and supporting CDC staff, she can succeed,” Frieden said via email.

In a statement welcoming Fitzgerald’s appointment Dr Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said her challenges would include “climate change, Zika, Ebola, and our growing burden of chronic disease”.

Fitzgerald has a bachelor of science degree in microbiology from Georgia State University and a medical degree from the Emory University School of Medicine. She has also been a major in the US air force.

In a statement, she said: “I am humbled by the challenges that lie ahead, yet I am confident that the successes we’ve had in Georgia will provide me with a foundation for guiding the work of the CDC.”

Price said Fitzgerald had “a deep appreciation and understanding of medicine, public health, policy and leadership” and would lead the CDC “in its work to protect America’s health 24/7”.