Trump Nominates Former Deputy Surgeon General to Lead CDC

President Donald Trump nominated Erica Schwartz, MD, JD, MPH, a board-certified preventive medicine physician who served as deputy surgeon general during his first term, to serve as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Schwartz is a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and previously served as chief medical officer of the U.S. Coast Guard and director of health, safety, and work-life, overseeing the service’s health system and operational public health programs.

She began her career as an occupational medicine physician in the U.S. Navy before transferring to the Public Health Service. At Coast Guard Headquarters, she led force health protection policy and pandemic preparedness efforts, supporting responses to major public health emergencies. She served as deputy surgeon general from 2019 to 2021.

If confirmed, Schwartz will succeed Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health, who is also currently serving as the acting director of the CDC.