Almost exactly a year after the US CDC last had a permanent director, the agency will have a new leader, Erica Schwartz, MD, JD, MPH.

The US Senate confirmed Schwartz in a 51-44 vote, with one Democrat, Sen. Tim Kaine (VA) voting yes; three Republicans did not vote, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY), who continues to reportedly be recovering in a rehabilitation facility. President Donald Trump nominated the 54-year-old Schwartz to be CDC director in April, noting that she had served as Deputy Surgeon General during his first term.

At a July Senate hearing, Schwartz testified that, if confirmed, her “first priority will be restoring trust in public health through radical transparency and unwavering scientific integrity,” adding that Americans “deserve public health guidance that is clear, honest, evidence-based, and free from political influence.”

Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the Committee on Health, Education Labor & Pensions (HELP), however, questioned whether she would oppose actions by US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy that were not evidence-based. Schwartz said she would “never betray the science.”

Some health organizations weighed in quickly on Schwartz’s confirmation. In a statement, American Public Health Association (APHA) CEO Georges C. Benjamin, MD, said that “Schwartz possesses the medical background and public health knowledge to effectively lead,” the CDC, which, he added, “desperately needs stability, experienced leadership, and a steadfast commitment to science.”

Benjamin said the APHA looked forward to “working with her to rebuild trust in public health leaders and advance proven practices and policies.”

In a post on X, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America said that it looked forward “to partnering with CDC leadership to advance infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship.”

HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) congratulated Schwartz, adding, that he wanted to work with her on the health challenges Americans are currently facing, and to “regain trust in the CDC.”

Long Public Career

Schwartz left the federal government in 2021, after a two-decades’-plus public service career.

From 2022 until June 2026, she was president of Insurance Solutions for Medicare and Retirement at United Healthcare. Schwartz had said she would resign from UnitedHealth Group and other corporate boards, sell healthcare-related holdings and recuse herself from matters involving former employers, reported Reuters.

Schwartz resigned from HHS in 2021, when she was not asked to stay on as Deputy Surgeon General.

Before joining HHS, she was a Rear Admiral in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, where she was elevated to the Director of Health, Safety, and Work-Life, managing the branch’s 42 clinics and 150 sick bays, as well as its environmental health and safety, substance abuse, health promotion and sexual assault prevention and response programs.

While at the Coast Guard, Schwartz also wrote the force’s policies for pandemic influenza protection, anthrax and smallpox vaccination, quarantinable communicable disease, and HIV, according to an archived HHS biography page.

Schwartz received both a BS degree in biomedical engineering (1994) and her medical degree from Brown University (1998). She was awarded an MPH in 2000 at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, completing an occupational and environmental medicine residency at the Bethesda, Maryland-based institution a year later. Her law degree is from the University of Maryland, and she is admitted to the District of Columbia Bar.

Alicia Ault is a Saint Petersburg, Florida-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in many health and science publications, including Smithsonian.com. You can find her on X @aliciaault and on Bluesky @aliciaault.bsky.social.