Trump nominates veteran of his first term to be CDC director

Published April 16, 2026 3:46pm ET | Updated April 16, 2026 5:23pm ET



President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz to be the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after months without a permanent director at the helm of the public health agency. 

Schwartz, who served as Trump’s Deputy Surgeon General during his first term, does not have any apparent ties with the broader Make America Healthy Again Movement, nor does she have a history of opposing vaccines.

The CDC has been without an official director since last August, when the president’s appointee Susan Monarez was fired following a public clash with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy. 

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