Erica Schwartz confirmed as CDC director

The U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as the new CDC director, filling a long-vacant leadership post in the Trump administration. Schwartz, the first Black woman to lead the agency, was confirmed 51-44. While public health experts praise her credentials, they express concern over potential political interference from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She inherits an agency facing a measles resurgence, an Ebola outbreak, and other crises.

Schwartz Senate confirmation

• ▪The U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on August 5, 2026
• ▪President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz in April 2026, praising her as "a STAR" on social media
• ▪The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz's nomination with a 51-44 vote
• ▪Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia was the only Democrat who voted to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz

CDC leadership instability

• ▪Dr. Erica Schwartz is President Donald Trump's third nominee to lead the CDC
• ▪Schwartz's predecessor, Susan Monarez, was fired by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 2025 after less than a month over a clash on vaccine policy
• ▪The CDC has lacked a permanent director for all but one month of President Trump's second term

Pandemic response credentials

• ▪Dr. Erica Schwartz is a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and a former deputy surgeon general
• ▪Dr. Erica Schwartz is the first Black woman to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• ▪Dr. Erica Schwartz previously served as the chief medical officer of the U.S. Coast Guard

Public health expert reactions

• ▪Public health experts have questioned whether Dr. Erica Schwartz will have the autonomy to lead the CDC without political interference
• ▪Dr. Erica Schwartz has promised to lead with “radical transparency and unwavering scientific integrity.”
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, has pursued a vaccine-skeptical agenda under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Incoming public health crises

• ▪The CDC is confronting America's worst measles resurgence in three decades, driven by falling childhood immunization rates
• ▪The CDC is also responding to an international Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda and a major U.S. foodborne illness outbreak