President Donald Trump has nominated Erica Schwartz, MD, to lead the CDC, following months of leadership instability at the agency.
The CDC has been without a Senate-confirmed director since August, with the White House delaying a nomination and relying on interim leadership to oversee the agency. The pick also comes as the CDC navigates workforce disruptions and ongoing scrutiny of federal vaccine policy, setting up likely confirmation questions about how Dr. Schwartz will approach those issues.
Dr. Schwartz is expected to first appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, though it is not clear when a confirmation hearing will be scheduled. If confirmed by the full Senate, she would replace Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health, who has been leading the CDC in an interim capacity since February.
Here are six things to know about the nominee:
1. Education and clinical training
Dr. Schwartz earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and a medical degree from Brown University in Providence, R.I., as well as a master’s of public health from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
2. Public health and military leadership background
Dr. Schwartz is a retired Coast Guard rear admiral who oversaw a healthcare system spanning 41 clinics and led programs in disease surveillance, vaccination and emergency response. She began her career in the Navy as an occupational medicine physician, including roles leading immunization and preventative medicine programs, according to her Department of Homeland Security profile.
3. Led major public health and emergency response efforts
During her federal service, she developed force health protection policies, including pandemic influenza, anthrax and smallpox vaccination protocols, and helped guide responses to events such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. She also served as a leader on an Ebola crisis response team and as a principal expert on pandemic influenza, according to an April 17 ABC News report.
4. Prior federal leadership experience
She served as deputy surgeon general during President Trump’s first administration, during which she was involved in national public health efforts, including pandemic response coordination.
5. Private sector role at UnitedHealthcare
As of May, she served as president of insurance solutions at UnitedHealthcare, though her current status in that role has not been confirmed by the insurer.
6. Backing from public health leaders
Jerome Adams, MD, who served as surgeon general during President Trump’s first administration, said he selected Dr. Schwartz as deputy surgeon general and called her qualified to lead the CDC, according to an April 16 report by CNN.
The American Public Health Association said Dr. Schwartz has the “medical background and public health knowledge” to lead the agency and emphasized the need for evidence-based science in the role, according to an April 16 statement.
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