Dr. Allison Arwady, who headed Chicago response to COVID, joining CDC

The chief architect of Chicago’s COVID-19 response will begin a new role next year at the federal government’s public health agency after the former top health official for Mayor Lori Lightfoot was fired earlier this year by Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Dr. Allison Arwady, who headed the Chicago Department of Public Health, will become a director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and lead the agency’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Arwady had tried to keep her job as Chicago’s Public Health commissioner under Johnson but she was let go in August as the new mayor who took over in May removed several Lightfoot administration officials.

“She led the city’s health department during the COVID-19 pandemic and did so exceptionally,” a CDC spokesperson said. “Dr. Arwady is nationally recognized for her strong leadership and communications skills, which are pivotal in the role she will assume.”

She will begin the job in January.

Arwady’s…