Trump Nominates Former Deputy Surgeon General Erica Schwartz to Lead CDC

President Trump on Thursday nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz, who was deputy surgeon general in his first term, to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CBS News, NPR and the Associated Press reported. The agency has been without a confirmed director for all but a month of his second term, NPR said.

Mr. Trump called Schwartz “incredibly talented” and wrote that “She is a STAR!” on Truth Social. Schwartz holds a medical degree from Brown University and a law degree from the University of Maryland, and her career has been largely in uniform, according to CBS News and the AP. She served as the Coast Guard’s chief medical officer, overseeing a system of 41 clinics and 150 sick bays, and is a retired rear admiral in the Public Health Service, NPR reported. CBS News said she has handled vaccination policies for anthrax and smallpox and responded to the Ebola crisis.

The president also named Sean Slovenski, a former Walmart executive, as CDC deputy director and chief operating officer, and Dr. Jennifer Shuford, the Texas health commissioner, as deputy director and chief medical officer. Dr. Sara Brenner, a senior Food and Drug Administration official, will become a senior counselor for public health to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the AP and NPR reported. Mr. Trump said the group would “restore the GOLD STANDARD OF SCIENCE at the CDC.”

The nomination follows turmoil at the Atlanta agency. The first pick, former Rep. David Weldon, had his confirmation hearing canceled in March 2025; he said he had been told too few senators would vote for him, the AP reported. Susan Monarez was confirmed and then fired within a month because, administration officials said, she was not aligned with their agenda; several senior scientists resigned in protest, according to the AP. Since then a series of acting leaders has run the CDC. National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya has led it since February and is expected to stay in place during confirmation, NPR said.

Early reaction was favorable from some outside the administration. Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told NPR his group welcomes the pick. “I think the administration has identified someone who is highly qualified, and has a demonstrated track record of competence in being both a good physician and a decent manager,” he said. Adm. Brett Giroir, who supervised Schwartz in the first Trump administration, called her “a person of the highest integrity,” NPR reported.

Schwartz would answer to Kennedy, who promised not to change the nation’s vaccination schedule but then moved to rewrite childhood vaccine recommendations, the AP reported; a federal judge recently put some of those efforts on hold. Kennedy told a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday that the new CDC team could “revolutionize CDC and get it back on track.” Schwartz could not be reached for comment, the AP said. The Senate must confirm her, a process NPR said could take several months.