For more than 7 years Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, led the CDC as it faced challenges including MERS, Ebola, and Zika as well as the growing opioid crisis, but on Friday he will step down as Donald Trump assumes the presidency. During his final hectic days in Atlanta, Frieden took time to share some thoughts about those tumultuous years with MedPage Today's F. Perry Wilson, MD, in this exclusive video interview.
"When I went to medical school, I was told that if you give an opiate to a patient who has pain, they won't get addicted -- completely wrong," Frieden told Wilson. "Opiates are highly addictive, and the therapeutic ratio is quite narrow, so if you give a little bit too much, you can die, and after just a few pills, you can be addicted for life ... What we know is that for chronic pain, other modalities of treatment are much safer and can be at least as effective, and may even be more effective."
As part of MedPage Today's new "Doc to Doc" series, Wilson talked with Frieden about his proudest accomplishments during his tenure at the agency, the challenges still ahead, and what keeps him up at night.