WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A scientist who helped pioneer AIDS protection for hospital workers and went on to battle anthrax has been chosen to run the nation's top public health agency, administration officials said Tuesday.

Dr. Julie Gerberding will become the first female director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson will appoint her today at a ceremony at the CDC's Atlanta headquarters, said administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Gerberding is a specialist on infectious disease who became one of the CDC's most quoted investigators during last fall's anthrax attacks.

Numerous health organizations had lobbied Thompson and the White House for her appointment, saying her anthrax experience would prove crucial as the agency prepares against another bioterrorism strike.

"She's somebody who has been able to withstand the pressure and take the heat and always use good science-based judgment to make decisions," said Dr. James Curran of Emory University, the CDC's former AIDS chief.

Gerberding, 46, had been the CDC's acting deputy director for science, one of a four-member team in charge of the agency while the Bush administration searched for a new director. Dr. Jeffrey Koplan stepped down as CDC director on March 31.

Gerberding began her career at the University of California, San Francisco, where she developed one of the first programs to give health workers stuck with HIV-tainted needles medication to prevent infection, said Tom Coates, the university's AIDS research director.