President Donald Trump has put forward Dr. Erica Schwartz, as the next Director of the CDC, April 16, 2026.Department of Health and Human Services
Earlier in the week, President Donald Trump nominated Erica Schwartz, MD, as the incoming leader for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Assuming Senate confirmation, Schwartz — a prior deputy surgeon general — is slated to succeed Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, who took over the role of acting CDC director this past February.
Numerous individuals in the medical field endorsed the nomination, asserting that Schwartz offers decades of healthcare proficiency that will greatly benefit the agency.
"While I don’t know Dr. Schwartz on a personal level, from what I've been reading, it seems as though she would be a superb choice for CDC director," said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician within the infectious diseases division at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, in a statement to ABC News.
"She comes with a background in public health and a commitment to bolstering public health, which is a refreshing departure from the status quo … I view this as a positive shift in the appropriate course for public health," he stated further.
Here's some background on the newly appointed nominee:
President Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz, to be the Director of the CDC, April 16, 2026.Department of Health and Human Services
Schwartz matriculated into Brown University's eight-year Program in Liberal Medical Education, obtaining a bachelor's in biomedical engineering in 1994, followed by a medical degree in 1998. She then secured her master of public health degree in 2000 from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
"One aspect that I find particularly encouraging is Dr. Schwartz’s attainment of both an MD and MPH, indicating not just clinical healthcare credentials, but also a firm grasp of public health and the contrast between the two," Sharon Gilmartin, executive director at the Safe States Alliance, a non-profit committed to injury and violence prevention, conveyed to ABC News.
"And with regard to areas such as injury and violence prevention, a focus of my organization, having someone who truly comprehends that population health perspective is of utmost importance," she carried on.
Schwartz entered the Navy back in 1994, where she fulfilled the role of a Navy Occupational Medicine physician with postings, including Chief of the Occupational Medicine Clinic, and the Immunization Clinic and leading the preventive medicine department at the Naval Medical Clinic in Annapolis, according to her Department of Homeland Security record.
Schwartz further occupied the position of occupational medicine physician and clinical epidemiologist at the Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command.
In 2005, Schwartz concluded her service in the Navy, proceeding to transfer to the Public Health Service and Coast Guard.
In 2015, Schwartz rose to the post of Coast Guard Chief Medical Officer, ahead of her tenure as Deputy Surgeon General from 2019 until the start of 2021, throughout the initial Trump administration.
Before her nomination as CDC director, she presided as president of insurance solutions for UnitedHealthcare and took a seat on the board of directors for home care provider Aveanna Healthcare. She currently holds a position on the board of directors for medical imaging company Butterfly Network.
During her tenure with the Coast Guard, Schwartz implemented a system for disease surveillance in conjunction with vaccination programs. As detailed in the profile, she also authored the foundational health protection policies comprising the Pandemic Influenza Force Health Protection policy, the Anthrax and Smallpox Vaccination policies, the Quarantinable Communicable Disease policy, the Periodic Health Assessment policy, and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus policy.
Schwartz likewise established Chemical, Biological, and Radiologic Medical Countermeasures programs and formulated health protection guidance spanning a series of operations involving the Coast Guard, such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon Operation, and an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, per the profile.
As cited in the profile, Schwartz functioned as the Coast Guard's lead authority regarding pandemic influenza, in addition to serving as one of the Ebola Crisis Action Team leaders.
While serving as deputy surgeon general, Schwartz aided in spearheading nationwide COVID-19 vaccine deployment and was the HHS' key contact during the transition period between the Trump and Biden administrations.
"Dr. Schwartz is exceptionally qualified," Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, informed ABC News. "She's a preventive medicine professional. She brings a wealth of experience from her time with the U.S. Public Health Service and the Coast Guard, and she's taken part in biotech and biological weapons response, along with holding leadership roles concerning COVID. Therefore, I hold no reservations about her credentials. I believe she is exactly the kind of candidate you would anticipate seeing in consideration for leading the CDC."
The response to Schwartz’s nomination has not been uniformly favorable. Aaron Siri, who has been Kennedy's personal counsel and has initiated a multitude of actions against federal entities like the CDC, and who has voiced opposition to vaccine mandates declared that her selection to direct HHS “would likely prove disastrous.”
Sourse: abcnews.go.com