NEW YORK, NY May 15, 2009 —City health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden will become one of country’s top health officials. Later today, President Obama will announce his appointment to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: Dr. Frieden will take over an agency of 7,800 employees, facing a wide range of national health problems, from the emergence of pandemic flu to the spread of obesity and diabetes.

He helped stem the spread of tuberculosis in the city in the 90s, and as Health Commissioner he is best known for leading a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, and for forcing them to remove trans-fats from their foods.

He is a devoted collector of data, instituting some of the country’s most ambitious health surveys, and he has provided money for doctors offices to switch to electronic health records. For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.