Trump Names Former Deputy Surgeon General as Nominee for CDC Director
President Donald Trump has nominated Erica Schwartz, M.D., M.P.H., J.D., former U.S. Deputy Surgeon General, to be the next Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Schwartz is a retired Rear Admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps. She served as the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG’s) Chief Medical Officer from 2015–2019, where she oversaw 41 clinics and 150 sick bays, and also held other USCG medical leadership positions. Preceding her transfer to PHS and USCG in 2005, she served as an occupational medicine physician in the U.S. Navy, and also held an immunization clinic chief leadership position.
The appointment comes eight months after CDC’s last Director, Suzan Monarez, Ph.D., was fired, reportedly due to misalignment with U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., prompting the resignation of other top CDC officials. Secretary Kennedy’s second-in-command at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Jim O’Niell, who has no medical or infectious disease training, was named CDC Acting Director after Dr. Monarez’s dismissal, who has since led the agency in the absence of a Presidentially nominated, Senate-confirmed Director.
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