OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A senior administrator for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and former assistant surgeon general has been selected as the new dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health.

Dr. Ali S. Khan has been at the CDC for the past 23 years. Since 2010 he has been director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, overseeing the national public health security program.

His UNMC appointment is effective July 1.

The 50-year-old Khan will become the third dean of the UNMC College of Public Health, which was founded in 2007. He succeeds Ayman El-Mohandes, who held the post from 2009 through 2013 before leaving to direct the School of Public Health at the City University of New York.