politics
Trump Nominates Coast Guard Rear Admiral Erica Schwartz as CDC Director
President Trump announced the nomination of Erica Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general, as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The announcement came alongside other health appointments and a statement on a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
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U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Schwartz, a Coast Guard rear admiral, served as Trump's deputy surgeon general in his first administration from 2019 to 2021. The CDC has been without a Senate-confirmed director for months, with the agency lacking a permanent director since August.
President Trump wrote on Truth Social: 'It is my honor to nominate the incredibly talented Dr. Erica Schwartz, MD, JD, MPH, as my Director of the CDC. ' In another post on April 16, Trump stated: 'Erica graduated from Brown University for College and Medical School, and served a distinguished career as a Doctor of Medicine in the United States Military, the Greatest and Most Powerful Force in the World, and then served as my Deputy Surgeon General during my First Term.
' in a post on Truth Social.
Coast Guard over more than two decades. U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, including as the Coast Guard’s preventive medicine chief. She is a board certified doctor of preventive medicine and was involved in the Trump administration’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, where she volunteered to serve as the ordering physician for drive-through COVID tests nationwide, responsible for millions of test orders, according to Brett Giroir, who served as assistant secretary of health during Trump’s first term.
Schwartz has a medical degree from Brown University, earned in 1998, a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University, a master’s degree in public health from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, completed in 2000, and a law degree from the University of Maryland.
She has been admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia. U.S. Surgeon general, departing in January 2021.
The CDC has not had a permanent director since August, and has been without a permanent director for all but 29 days since January 2025.
