Trump Names Erica Schwartz to Head CDC
President Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration, who spent 24 years in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and also was a Coast Guard rear admiral, to the post of director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “It is my Honor to nominate the incredibly talented Dr. Erica Schwartz,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. “She is a STAR!”
CNN reports that Schwartz holds a medical degree from Brown University and a law degree from the University of Maryland. The network says HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team had recommended Schwartz to the president, along with a slate of other appointees to shore up CDC leadership, whom Trump also named Thursday. They included FDA principal deputy commissioner Dr. Sara Brenner, who will be Kennedy’s public health advisor; commissioner of the Texas Health Department Dr. Jennifer Shuford, who will become CDC deputy director and chief medical officer; and Sean Slovenski, a former Walmart and Humana executive, who will serve as a deputy director and chief operating officer.
While testifying before a House Appropriations Committee subcommittee on health, Kennedy said, “We’re bringing an extraordinary team…. The team has been leaked, and it’s gotten applause from both Republicans and Democrats. I think this new team is really going to be able to revolutionize CDC and get it back on track and get it doing the job that it does better than any other health agency in the world.”
CNN reports that during her Coast Guard service, Schwartz led disease surveillance and vaccination programs and wrote Coast Guard policy on pandemic influenza and other viral disease outbreaks.
The network says she likely will face some skepticism from senators in the confirmation process over how willing she will be to differ with Kennedy on controversial issues such as vaccine policy.
The New York Times describes Schwartz as a “highly qualified traditional choice and tapping her is the strongest signal yet that the administration is veering away from vaccine skepticism this election year.” It says she is also among the very few Black women in leadership roles in the second Trump administration. During the coronavirus pandemic, she ran the federal government’s testing program. She was polite but firm when she disagreed with Dr. Brett Giroir, then the assistant secretary of health and her boss, on the program’s specifics, it says.
“She’s not a wallflower, and she’s not afraid to speak truth to power,” Giroir, a retired four-star admiral and pediatrician, told the Times. “She’s really wicked smart and is not subject to rumor and conspiracy theories. I’m very pleased that a person with her experience, credentials, and dedication to public health and prevention is a candidate for this position.”
Schwartz declined media requests for comment on her appointment.