HHS In role
Dr. Erica Schwartz
CDC Director
Physician and attorney, former Deputy Surgeon General and Coast Guard chief medical officer, confirmed August 5, 2026 as CDC Director (51–44) — the agency's first permanent director in nearly a year.
Role status — October 2026: Schwartz is the confirmed Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Senate confirmed her on August 5, 2026, by a vote of 51–44, largely along party lines. She is the first permanent CDC director since Susan Monarez was fired in August 2025 after less than a month in the job, and — per Medical Daily — the first Black woman to lead the agency.
Schwartz is a physician and attorney who previously served as Deputy Surgeon General and as chief medical officer of the U.S. Coast Guard, following service as a Navy physician. She was President Trump’s third pick for the CDC post.
At her July 2026 confirmation hearing she aligned herself with Secretary Kennedy’s program, telling lawmakers she was “all in on the Make America Healthy Again agenda,” and said her first priority would be restoring trust “through radical transparency and unwavering scientific integrity” (her words as reported). HELP Chairman Bill Cassidy, who pressed her on whether she would support vaccines if pressured by Kennedy, ultimately voted for her, saying he was confident “she knows what she is doing and will stand against those who do not.” Ranking member Bernie Sanders voted no, arguing she was not prepared to stand up to Kennedy on vaccines. Critics among former CDC officials have questioned whether she will resist political interference; supporters describe her as a conventional, credentialed choice.
She inherits an agency managing the worst U.S. measles resurgence in three decades, a record cyclosporiasis outbreak, a multistate Salmonella outbreak, and an Ebola response in Congo and Uganda — after a year in which the CDC lost thousands of employees and cycled through acting directors, most recently NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya (February–August 2026).
Why she matters to this chronicle: the CDC director accepts or rejects the vaccine recommendations that drive insurance coverage and clinical practice — the exact fault line that produced the Monarez firing and much of the MAHA era’s institutional conflict.
Sources (Aug–Oct 2026): Reuters (Aug 5) on the confirmation; NPR Illinois and KNKX on the vote and reactions; HealthDay/Drugs.com on her background and first days; Medical Daily FAQ on her credentials.