The Department of Health and Human Services has recommended Dr. Erica Schwartz, a deputy U.S. surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first term, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The CDC director pick is not final and still needs Trump’s approval before moving forward, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
It’s unclear if Trump will ultimately move forward with Schwartz or select another candidate.
The Washington Post was the first to report on Schwartz’s possible nomination.
A spokesperson for HHS did not respond to a request for comment. In an emailed statement, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said, “Any reporting about personnel decisions, unless officially announced by the White House, should be considered baseless speculation.”
The CDC has been without a permanent director since August.
The Trump administration’s first pick, former Rep. Dave Weldon of Florida, was pulled in March 2025 after Republican senators signaled he wouldn’t be confirmed. Officials then turned to Susan Monarez, a career scientist who had already been serving as acting director. She led the agency for just one month last summer before she was dismissed in August after clashing with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy.
Jim O’Neill then served as the agency’s acting director for several months. O’Neill signed off on a major overhaul of the childhood vaccination schedule in January that has since been blocked by a federal judge. He was replaced by National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya in February, who has since been overseeing the agency in an unusual dual role.
Schwartz spent more than 20 years in uniform across the U.S. Navy, Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the U.S. Coast Guard. She left as deputy surgeon general in 2021.
Schwartz, a physician, earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and a medical degree from Brown University. She also holds a master’s degree in public health from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and a law degree from the University of Maryland.
If selected, Schwartz would step into the role as the agency grapples with controversial policy changes under Kennedy.
Last month, a Massachusetts federal judge, in a lawsuit brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics and several other medical organizations, halted many of the vaccine policy changes made under Kennedy’s handpicked CDC vaccine advisory panel, also known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. That ruling also blocked the overhaul of the vaccination schedule. The agency has yet to appeal the ruling.
This month, Kennedy signed off on a new charter for ACIP — a move that was seen by health policy experts as a way to sidestep the judge’s ruling.
