President Donald Trump has nominated Erica Schwartz, a military physician and former deputy surgeon general, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Atlanta-based federal agency responsible for protecting Americans from preventable health threats. Trump announced the nomination on Thursday via social media, calling Schwartz "incredibly talented" and declaring, "She is a STAR!" If confirmed by the Senate, she would become the fourth person to lead the agency in just over a year.
Schwartz brings an unusual blend of medical and legal credentials, holding degrees from Brown University and the University of Maryland School of Law. She spent 24 years in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps — a uniformed service branch of the federal health department — including a leadership role overseeing the Coast Guard's network of 41 clinics and 150 sick bays. She later served as deputy surgeon general, coordinating uniformed health professionals posted across the CDC and other government health agencies. Trump also announced the appointment of Sean Slovenski, a former Walmart executive, as CDC deputy director and chief operating officer, Dr. Jennifer Shuford, Texas health commissioner, as deputy director and chief medical officer, and Dr. Sara Brenner as a senior public health counsellor to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The nomination arrives after a period of sustained instability at the CDC since Trump returned to office in January 2025. The administration's first choice, former Florida congressman Dr. David Weldon, saw his Senate confirmation hearing cancelled an hour before it was due to begin, with Weldon saying he lacked sufficient Senate support. His successor, Susan Monarez, was confirmed by the Senate but dismissed within a month after administration officials said she was not aligned with their agenda. Several senior CDC scientists resigned in protest, warning that her removal left the agency's scientific independence exposed to political interference. Since then, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya has been temporarily overseeing the CDC, one of a succession of interim figures filling the leadership vacuum.
The broader context is one of deep tension over the CDC's direction under Kennedy, who has pursued sweeping changes including mass staff layoffs, budget restructuring, and a challenge to the childhood vaccination schedule — some elements of which were temporarily halted by a federal judge in March. Kennedy cancelled funding for 22 vaccine development projects worth an estimated $500 million, including mRNA drug research. Kennedy said Thursday that the new leadership team would "revolutionize" the agency and praised the appointments. However, Aaron Siri, a lawyer allied with Kennedy on vaccine scepticism, publicly criticised Schwartz's selection, citing her history of supporting vaccination programmes.
Why this matters: the CDC plays a central role in setting public health guidance for the United States and, given its global reach, for international health policy as well. The agency's credibility was already tested during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its continued leadership instability, combined with policy battles over vaccines, raises questions about its capacity to respond to future health emergencies. Schwartz's nomination still requires Senate confirmation — a process that has already proved difficult for other Trump health nominees, including surgeon general pick Dr. Casey Means, whose confirmation has stalled amid bipartisan scepticism about the administration's health agenda.