April 16, 2026

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Former deputy surgeon general Erica Schwartz nominated as new CDC chief

The White House has nominated Erica Schwartz to replace NIH director Jay Bhattacharya as CDC chief. Bhattacharya has been leading the CDC on an acting basis since February, after the public health agency’s director was fired in 2025

By Dan Vergano edited by Claire Cameron

Erica Schwartz in 2019.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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The White House has nominated former Navy physician Erica Schwartz to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She was deputy surgeon general, a civil servant position that is not politically appointed, in the first Trump administration. And she was previously a rear admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard, where she served as chief medical officer.

“It is my Honor to nominate the incredibly talented Dr. Erica Schwartz,” wrote Trump in his announcement of the nomination on his Truth Social platform. “She is a STAR!” In the announcement, he also named the appointment of two new senior officials to the CDC and another to the Department of Health and Human Services, .

Questions over the CDC’s vaccine decision-making will likely figure heavily in the Senate hearings on Schwartz’s nomination. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., fired the former CDC chief, Susan Monarez, than a month into her term last August. Monarez has alleged she was fired for pushing back against Kennedy’s plan to overhaul the country’s vaccine policies. Various HHS officials have led the agency on an acting basis since then—the most recent has been National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya.

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If she is confirmed by the Senate, Schwartz will take the reins of the CDC after a year of tumult that has seen the resignations of multiple members of its leadership, the loss of expert personnel and an incident last August in which a gunman fired nearly 500 bullets at its headquarters, killing a police officer. As late as this past March, the bullet holes remained in CDC windows.

It’s unclear how Schwartz might guide the agency’s public health approach. At the Coast Guard, she led numerous health initiatives, including anthrax and smallpox vaccination campaigns, and helped craft HIV and biological weapons response policies. She was on the service’s Ebola outbreak team leadership and was its principal expert on pandemic influenza. As well as a medical degree, she has a master’s degree in public health and a law degree from the University of Maryland.

Schwartz “possesses the medical background and public health knowledge to understand that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must be guided by evidence-based science,” said Georges C. Benjamin, chief executive officer of the American Public Health Association, the largest U.S. organization for public health officials, in a statement. “We look forward to working with Dr. Schwartz to ensure we use the best science and evidence to improve the nation’s health.”

In recent months, the Trump administration has moved to tone down RFK, Jr.’s opposition to vaccines, which has turned off voters, and put him on a “low-risk messaging diet ahead of midterm elections,” according to Bloomberg. Schwartz has been a vaccine proponent in the past, and naming her as nominee to lead the CDC may reflect that caution. Schwartz’s elevation also comes as wellness influencer Casey Means’s nomination for U.S. surgeon general has stalled, following Means sidestepping support for vaccines in her Senate confirmation hearing. The White House has reportedly equivocated its support of Means in recent weeks.

At a House hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations on Thursday, RFK, Jr., expressed support for Means, calling her “not a political person,” and asked the Senate to vote for her confirmation. He also expressed support for the White House’s nominee for CDC director to get the agency “back on track.”

Editor’s Note (4/16/26): This story is in development and may be updated.

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Former deputy surgeon general Erica Schwartz nominated as new CDC chief | Scientific American