Big news yesterday, as the Trump administration announced a new nomination for CDC Director, who now will have to be confirmed by the Senate. Unlike a few recent confirmation hearings (Casey Means for Surgeon General? cough cough) this is expected to be a pretty easy confirmation. For once, the nominee appears to be actually qualified for this role.
This nomination comes after a long wait and a lot of leadership swirl.
Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, top federal posts can only be filled by people in “acting” roles for 210 consecutive days, unless there is a nominee pending confirmation. (If a nominee is rejected by the Senate or their name is withdrawn from consideration, the 210-day clock restarts.)
It was August 27, 2025 when Dr. Susan Monarez was ousted, only a few weeks after she was confirmed by the Senate and sworn into office. That started the 210-day clock ticking. But 210 days came and went this past March 25, and the White House missed the deadline to nominate someone new.
Word on the street was that the missed nomination wasn’t for lack of trying—the White House literally could not find a single person who both had the credibility to pass Senate confirmation for such an important role and was willing to serve as director under HHS Secretary RFK Jr., especially after he fired Monarez for refusing to sign off on every recommendation for the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) “regardless of scientific evidence.”
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya—who is also heading up the NIH, headquartered in Rockville, MD, a 10-hour drive or 90-minute flight from CDC’s Atlanta headquarters—has continued to serve as CDC’s acting director, even after the deadline passed. This wasn’t great, because past courts have struck down the actions of officials who were found to be unlawfully serving due to things like the Vacancies Act. So bottom line, the Trump administration needed to find someone willing to be nominated for that post, or they wouldn’t be able to make public health-related decisions that could survive a court challenge.
Everyone sees the midterms on the horizon.
Some might argue that this administration doesn’t seem to care very much about court challenges, and whether they win or lose them. That might not be enough motivation in itself. But like members of the Senate, the Trump administration is very aware of the upcoming midterm elections, and the danger that could pose.
Increasingly, RFK Jr. appears to be seen as a liability in that fight. While a lot of people like his stances on removing dyes from food, reducing ultraprocessed foods from the average American diet, and limiting our exposure to environmental toxins, there are a lot fewer people on board with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance. (Yes, there is a very loud contingent of people who are 100% Team RFK when it comes to vaccines, but when it comes down to it the data show that the majority of Americans understand vaccines save lives, and want their ability to get vaccines to be protected.) Even much of the MAHA movement is starting to turn against RFK Jr., as they realize that RFK is supporting the Trump administration in taking actions that undermine his supposed commitment to making American healthy again.
So what does that mean for a new CDC Director? Were they going to try again with someone who aligned with RFK’s positions on vaccines, like their first nominee in 2025, Dr. Dave Wheldon? Or were they going to find someone willing to serve in the post who would go on record saying that vaccines are an important part of our ability to prevent deadly outbreaks of preventable infectious diseases?
We have an answer, and RFK Jr. probably doesn’t like it.
Yesterday, the news broke that Dr. Erica Schwartz was the new nominee for CDC Director, and would soon be up for Senate confirmation.
Dr. Schwartz is a board-certified preventive medicine physician. She got her medical degree from Brown University. She also has a law degree from University of Maryland, and a Master of Public Health from the Uniformed Services University, or USU. (If you, like me, had never heard of the USU, I’ll help you out—it’s known as the “West Point for Health Professionals” and like West Point, students don’t pay tuition, they pay for their education in military service. The emphasis is on military health care, leadership, and public health readiness.) Dr. Schwartz previously served as chief medical officer of the U.S. Coast Guard, and as deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration. She’s also a retired admiral in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, and during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic she was in charge of the federal government’s program of drive-through testing sites.
She’s clearly, and surprisingly, qualified. Perhaps even more surprising, in her social media posts she has repeatedly praised vaccines as a cornerstone of our strategy to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
OK, but who knows what will happen. Do you, like me, need a laugh?
Yesterday when Dr. Schwartz was nominated, my phone exploded with news notifications, text messages, Slack DMs, and Signal posts. Had I heard? What did I think? What was I hearing? After a long day, a good friend shared with me some reactions that CDC colleagues had to the NY Times headline about Schwartz’s nomination:
One person, likely soon to be working under Dr. Schwartz, sent to the group, “The headline for this NYT article reads like: “Trump to Nominate Scientist who says Earth is Not Flat as NASA Administrator.”
Someone else responded, “Trump nominates new CDC Director who agrees that health is very important for most folks.”
A third chimed in, “Trump nominates CDC Director who has never consumed aquarium cleaner.”
You have to remember, this is a group of people who’ve had an extremely rough last 15 months. Massive layoffs (an estimated 1 in 3 CDC employees have been RIFed since Jan 2025), a mass shooting by someone mad about COVID vaccines, and an HHS Secretary who posted photos from his fishing trip in Alaska in the aftermath instead of making sure CDC employees knew he cared about their safety. Never mind the incessant assault on science and their commitment to protecting the public’s health by making decisions based on evidence.
I wrote back to my friend, “Honestly, snark like this must be 90% of the way you all get out of bed in the morning these days. 🏆”
His response? “Caffeine and adrenaline caused by anger really – but snark by midday to keep me going😃.”
My hat’s off to everyone still surviving at CDC. Dr. Schwartz may not be perfect, but to me she’s a promising sign. I hope her confirmation sails through the Senate and she provides some stable and science-based leadership to you and your agency.
Now excuse me while I go light a candle and make a fervent wish that yesterday’s announcement is a sign of what’s to come, and who’s soon to be swept out to sea. 🤞🏼