President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz this Thursday to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“I am honored to nominate Dr. Erica Schwartz, an extraordinarily talented professional, as director of the CDC,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Erica graduated from Brown University, both in the School of Science and Medicine, and had a distinguished career as an MD in the United States Armed Forces,” he added.
“He’s a STAR!” added the president.
The CDC, whose mission is to protect Americans from preventable health threats, has been mired in crisis since Trump returned to the White House more than a year ago, with a succession of mostly temporary directors.
(Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears in the Lower House amid criticism of the Government’s vaccination policy)
The agency, which is overseen by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who promised that he would not change the national vaccination schedule, but shortly after taking office said he would investigate the childhood vaccination schedule and attempted to substantially modify immunization recommendations for children. Some of their efforts were recently suspended by a federal judge.
The Administration first chose Dr. David Weldon, a former congressman from Florida, to lead the CDC but his Senate confirmation hearing in March 2025 was canceled an hour before it was to begin. Weldon then claimed that he had been told that there were not enough senators willing to vote in his favor.
The White House then chose Susan Monarez, who served as acting director of the CDC. She was confirmed by the Senate, but removed in less than a month. Trump Administration officials claimed that she did not align with their agenda, so they removed her.
(Trump Administration Fires CDC Director Susan Monarez After Refusing to Resign)
Several key CDC scientific leaders resigned in protest, saying Monarez’s ouster dashed their hopes that a CDC director could protect the agency from political interference in its scientific research and health recommendations.
Since then, the agency’s leadership has been a constant succession of changes, and the temporary acting director position has passed from one Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official to another. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya has been overseeing the CDC for the past few weeks.
During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, Kennedy said the new team coming to the CDC is “extraordinary.”
“I think this new team will be able to really revolutionize the CDC and get the agency back on track,” he said.
Schwartz’s appointment comes at a time when Dr. Casey Means, Trump’s pick for U.S. surgeon general, has faced difficulties in being confirmed.
Means’ slow process after appearing at a confirmation hearing in February reflects the skepticism that lawmakers from both parties have expressed about Kennedy’s direction of his department.
