Healthcare

Profile: Dr Erica Schwartz, New US CDC Director

Emmanuel Eze

Dr Erica Schwartz has been confirmed by the US Senate as director ‌of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a ⁠51-44 vote that broke largely along party lines, with Tim Kaine of Virginia the sole Democrat to support her nomination.

Donald Trump’s third pick to run the CDC, Schwartz is set to take the reins of the agency after a tumultuous period of leadership turnover, and amid public concern over an outbreak of cyclosporiasis and Robert F Kennedy Jr’s hesitancy towards vaccines.

At her confirmation hearing last month, senators pressed Schwartz on whether she would stand firm against any attempts by the health secretary to erode the scientific consensus around vaccines. She replied that she “will never betray the science” but generally deflected questions about how she would manage the relationship with Kennedy.

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“We need a CDC director that will ⁠actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization,” said Bill Cassidy, the committee’s Republican chair and a physician.

Schwartz replied that Kennedy “will absolutely allow me to be CDC director”, and Cassidy later announced his support for her nomination.

“There are challenges facing Americans’ health today. I will work with her to face those challenges and regain trust in the CDC,” Cassidy said after the Senate confirmed her.

Medical Training

The 54-year-old physician, attorney, and retired military leader brings decades of multidisciplinary expertise to the post. Her academic pedigree spans a biomedical engineering degree and an M.D. from Brown University, an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the Uniformed Services University, and a J.D. from the University of Maryland Law School.

She is board-certified in preventive medicine and previously served as a Navy physician, Chief Medical Officer for the U.S. Coast Guard at the rank of two-star Rear Admiral, and U.S. Deputy Surgeon General during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the Coast Guard’s Chief Medical Officer from 2015 to 2019, she commanded health and safety operations for all military personnel. In her subsequent role as Deputy Surgeon General from 2019 to 2021, she helped orchestrate the early federal response to COVID-19, which included deploying the nation’s first mass drive-thru testing sites.

Schwartz will be the first permanent CDC director since Susan Monarez, Trump’s second pick, who was fired by Kennedy last year after less than a month over a clash on vaccine policy.