O'Neill will be the first person in the 80+ year history to head the CDC who is not a doctor. He has one of those elitist masters degrees in humanities from the University of Chicago (Obama liked that school) with a background working in hedge funds. Aren't those things the right are always crying about?
He has no qualifications that should make one believe he's an appropriate pick for this role, not even if it is only an interim stint. He favors deregulation of the pharmaceutical industry and thinks patients should be free to take pharmaceuticals at their own risk. Wants to leave determining efficacy up to the free market. Putting it another way, he's an advocate for snake oil salesmen.