President Moon Jae-in appointed Jeong Eun-kyeong_정은경 as the new director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC)_{질병관리본부} Thursday. Jeong, a former doctor, is heading KCDC’s Emergency Situation Center.

Jung saw her salary cut because of ineffective dealing with the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in May 2016. This notwithstanding, Moon named her to head KCDC in recognition of the doctor-turned-administrator's expertise, officials said.

Born in Gwangju 1965, Jeong graduated from the Seoul National University College of Medicine and is a specialist in family medicine. She obtained a master degree in public health and a doctorate in preventive medicine at the college.

Jung served as director of the Emergency Healthcare Department at the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW)_{보건복지부} before moving to KCDC where she took various posts such as the director of the Chronic Disease Management Division and heads of Disease Prevention Center and Emergency Situation Center.

“Jeong has lots of field experiences as an expert who can prevent disease, cope with infectious diseases and control disinfection job,” Cheong Wa Dae said after appointing her. “She is the right person to improve the nation’s disease management system drastically.”

Upon the news of her appointment, Jeong said, “I feel a great sense of responsibility and will do my best to prevent diseases and promote public health not to speak of swiftly blocking the spread of infectious diseases.”

Jeong took office after an inaugural ceremony Thursday.