Senate Confirms Erica Schwartz as CDC Director

The United States Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz, MD, JD, MPH, as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a 51-44 vote on Aug. 5. Schwartz is a board-certified preventive medicine physician and retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She served as deputy surgeon general from 2019 to 2021.

Prior to her role as deputy surgeon general, Schwartz 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.

Schwartz succeeds Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, who had been serving as acting CDC director.