Dr. Erica Schwartz Becomes The 1st Black Woman Confirmed As CDC Director

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a new boss.

The U.S. Senate voted 51-44 to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as the CDC’s next director, making her the first Black woman to hold this position. The confirmation ends nearly a year of revolving-door leadership at the nation’s top public health agency. It also gives the Trump administration a rare policy win while placing one of its most experienced public health veterans in charge of an agency facing no shortage of smoke, reports Reuters.

Schwartz, a physician, attorney, retired rear admiral, and former deputy surgeon general, has a proven track record of navigating high-pressure situations. Her résumé includes serving as the U.S. Coast Guard’s chief medical officer and overseeing health operations across the military branch before moving into executive healthcare leadership, reports the AP News. Still, she’s inheriting a whole lot more than a new office.

The CDC has spent the last year battling leadership turnover, declining employee morale, staffing reductions, and mounting public scrutiny while responding to a resurgence of measles, international Ebola outbreaks, and significant foodborne illness concerns. That’s a heavy lift for any executive, let alone the first permanent CDC director in nearly a year.

During her confirmation hearing, Schwartz pledged to restore public confidence through what she called “radical transparency” and “unwavering scientific integrity.” She also voiced support for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, though lawmakers pressed her repeatedly on whether she would push back against political interference in public health decisions.

“The issue at hand is not complicated,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, who opposed her nomination, at the July hearing. “Will we have people in the Trump administration who have the guts to stand up to people who are anti-science and into conspiracy theories?” 

Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy, who serves as chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, also showed concern about Schwartz’s stance on supporting science.

“We need a CDC director that will actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization,” Cassidy said during the hearing, according to The Hill.

Cassidy ultimately decided to support Schwartz’s nomination after the CDC updated its website about vaccines and autism to address his objections. 

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