Trump Reveals His Pick For Next CDC Director

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he is nominating Dr. Erica Schwartz to serve as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing the nomination that Schwartz is an “incredibly talented” individual, adding she is a “STAR.”

“Erica graduated from Brown University for College and Medical School, and served a distinguished career as a Doctor of Medicine in the United States Military, the Greatest and Most Powerful Force in the World, and then served as my Deputy Surgeon General during my First Term. She is a STAR!” Trump wrote in the social media post. “I am also pleased to announce the appointment of Sean Slovenski as the CDC Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Jennifer Shuford, MD, MPH, as the CDC Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer, and Dr. Sara Brenner, MD, MPH, as Senior Counselor for Public Health to [Health and Human Services] Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.”

Trump also claimed that these “Highly Respected Doctors of Medicine” possess “the knowledge, experience, and TOP degrees to restore the GOLD STANDARD OF SCIENCE at the CDC, which was an absolute disaster focused on ‘mandates’ under Sleepy Joe,” seemingly in reference to former President Joe Biden.

The president added that they “will do a TREMENDOUS job leading the CDC as we continue to MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AND GREAT AGAIN!”

During Trump’s first term, Schwartz served as Deputy Surgeon General from January 2019 to April 2021, where she oversaw the nation’s “public health deployment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to Butterfly Network.

In August 2025, Trump announced he was ousting former CDC Director Susan Monarez after she refused to step down. National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya has been serving as the CDC’s acting director, but his title expired in March under federal law, CNBC reported on Thursday.