Can Erica Schwartz, Trump’s pick to lead CDC, change agency’s direction amid dysfunction?
Dr. Erica Schwartz, nominated to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, could take the nation’s premier public health agency in a new direction after more than a year of chaos and disruption.
“She is a STAR!” President Donald Trump wrote as he announced her nomination Thursday on Truth Social. If confirmed by the Senate, Schwartz would be the CDC’s fourth leader in a little more than a year. She would inherit an agency rocked by budget cuts and layoffs, as well as directives from Washington that undermined its longtime messaging about vaccines and other preventative measures.
Unlike Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the CDC and has questioned vaccines, Schwartz is a vaccine supporter and public health expert. As deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration, she oversaw the creation of drive-through sites for COVID-19 testing and backed the creation of the vaccines that helped control the pandemic.
Schwartz’s one-time boss, former Surgeon General Jerome Adams, said she has the “expertise, credibility, and integrity to lead the CDC effectively.”
“If allowed to follow the science without political interference, she’ll excel,” Adams said. “Cautiously optimistic but encouraged by this pick.”
Who is Erica Schwartz?
Schwartz graduated from Brown University in 1994, where she received a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, and from the Brown University School of Medicine in 1998. She also has a master’s with a dual concentration in health services administration and occupational and environmental medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
In addition, Schwartz has a law degree from the University of Maryland and is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia.
Schwartz was a Navy occupational medicine physician before transferring to the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She rose through the ranks to become a rear admiral in the Coast Guard and was the service’s chief medical officer from 2015 to 2019.
She joined the Trump administration as deputy surgeon general in 2019.
Turmoil at the CDC
Schwartz’s nomination comes at a time of upheaval at the CDC.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, has been the acting CDC director since February, when Kennedy fired Jim O’Neill from the role. O’Neill had been in charge since the White House fired director Susan Monarez in August 2025 — less than a month after she was confirmed by the Senate.
Monarez said in both congressional testimony and a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Kennedy told her to approve every recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices “regardless of the scientific evidence.” She was also directed to dismiss officials responsible for vaccine policy, “without cause,” Monarez said.
“Even under pressure, I could not replace evidence with ideology or compromise my integrity,” she said.
Kennedy previously denied these claims.
Experts have expressed grave concerns about Kennedy’s vaccine policy and past statements on inoculations. Last year, he fired all 17 members of the ACIP, replacing them with people who critics argued lack experience in immunology or have a history of spreading misinformation.
A federal judge ruled that ACIP was reconstituted illegally, and also reversed changes Kennedy and the panel made to the childhood vaccine schedule. Changes to the vaccine schedule suggestions include cutting the number from 17 to 11, and ending the recommendation to vaccinate newborns against hepatitis B.
After this, Kennedy rewrote the rules of membership for ACIP.
All this happened as CDC data showed national vaccination rates have dropped to their lowest levels in more than a decade.
The agency went through numerous rounds of layoffs, firings and rehirings after Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
The New York Times reported at least 2,400 CDC employees, or 18% of its staff, have been fired or resigned since January 2025.
Response to Schwartz’s nomination
Adm. Paul Zukunft, a former Coast Guard commandant who appointed Schwartz as the service’s chief medical officer, told NPR she is “well-schooled in the science” and good at communicating about issues that might be controversial.
“She was not in the least bit reticent when it came to talking truth to power,” he said. “She was very forthright in sharing with me where there was room for improvement.”
In a statement, Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, CEO of the American Public Health Association, said Schwartz has the medical background and public health knowledge to lead the CDC.
“With her previous service at HHS during the first Trump administration and as Chief Medical Officer with the U.S. Coast Guard, she has demonstrated strong leadership skills,” Benjamin said.
Michael Baker, director of health care policy at the non-profit American Action Forum, said in an interview with CNN that Schwartz’s leadership was “essential” to the early COVID-19 response.
During the time she and her team worked with the American Action Forum, “she became a go-to resource to communicate with state leaders on testing, surveillance, and other emergency measures.”
“Her strong leadership qualities and wide-ranging view of and expertise in public health are crucial to stabilizing and ultimately strengthening CDC during this tumultuous time,” Baker said.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
