Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald

The new head of the nation's top public health agency is getting paid nearly twice what his predecessor made and far more than other past directors,…

Brenda Fitzgerald, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned on Wednesday because of financial conflicts of interest. The chief public health official bought stocks in tobacco and health care companies after she started working at the agency.

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald has been appointed as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. She is an obstetrician-gynecologist who's led the Georgia state health department for six years. She succeeds Dr. Thomas Frieden.