For the first time in nearly a year, the nation’s top public health agency has a permanent leader. In August 2026, the Senate voted 51-44 to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director, NPR reports. She is the agency’s 22nd director, and the first Black woman ever to hold the job.
That milestone arrives at a rough moment. Schwartz inherits an agency that has shed thousands of staffers and absorbed deep budget cuts. Last August, a gunman attacked its Atlanta campus. Meanwhile, measles cases are running at a 35-year high. Her boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., fired her predecessor over vaccine policy.
Here is what to know about the new director, the agency, and why the job matters.
Who does the CDC report to?
The CDC sits inside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as one of its operating divisions. It also functions as a U.S. Public Health Service agency, according to the Congressional Research Service. In practical terms, the director answers to the HHS secretary. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. currently holds that job.
That reporting line explains much of the tension around her confirmation. Senators spent her July 15 hearing probing whether she would push back against Kennedy. Specifically, they asked what she would do if he demanded a policy that science did not support. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana pressed hardest, then backed her anyway, per PBS. Ultimately, he said he felt “confident that she knows what she is doing.”
Congress holds the other lever. Lawmakers write the agency’s budget every year, and they also decide who gets the top job. A provision in the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act made the CDC director a Senate-confirmed position. Schwartz is only the second person to clear that bar.
That chain of command reaches further down than most people realize. Kimya Nuru Dennis is a sociologist at the Community College of Baltimore County who studies health, education and economics. She put it plainly to Blavity Health. Federal funding, policies and procedures “shape funding, policies, and procedures at the state and local levels.” In other words, a decision made in Atlanta eventually reaches your county clinic.
Why did the former CDC deputy director resign?
Dr. Ralph Abraham served as the agency’s principal deputy director and second in command. He stepped down abruptly on Feb. 23, 2026, after roughly two months on the job. The CDC said in an official statement that Abraham chose to leave “to address unforeseen family obligations.” His departure took effect immediately.
Abraham, a former Louisiana surgeon general, had been sworn in on Dec. 15, 2025. Weeks before his exit, public health advocates criticized a remark he made about measles. He had described the potential loss of U.S. measles elimination status as the “cost of doing business.” Acting director Jim O’Neill had left the department earlier that month. By then, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya had stepped in on an acting basis. Still, the agency had no permanent leader in either top role.
Additionally, an earlier wave of departures reshaped CDC leadership in August 2025. After Kennedy fired then-director Susan Monarez, two senior officials resigned in protest. Chief medical officer Dr. Debra Houry and immunization center director Dr. Demetre Daskalakis both cited political pressure on science.
Who is the new director of the CDC?
Dr. Erica G. Schwartz is a board-certified preventive medicine physician. She is also a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. President Donald Trump nominated her in April 2026. Her uniformed career began in the Navy, and she transferred to the Public Health Service in 2005.
The academic record behind her is unusually deep. Schwartz earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University in 1994. Her medical degree followed in 1998, from Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School, RINewsToday reports. She later added a Master of Public Health from the Uniformed Services University. A law degree from the University of Maryland came after that.
Schwartz served as chief medical officer of the U.S. Coast Guard from 2015 to 2019. Then she became deputy surgeon general, holding that post until early 2021. After leaving federal service, she joined UnitedHealthcare as president of insurance solutions. She also sat on the boards of Aveanna Healthcare and Butterfly Network, and committed to resigning both.
Notably, she is the second Black American to lead the agency. Dr. David Satcher directed the CDC from 1993 to 1998, then served as U.S. surgeon general.
Public health experts remain split on her prospects. Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security criticized her hearing performance to NPR. It “came up far short of what I was hoping for,” he said. Georgetown government professor Nadia E. Brown framed the appointment differently. She told The 19th that a Black woman needed “an absolutely perfect pedigree” to be considered. Schwartz, for her part, told senators she would “never betray the science ever.”
What is Dr. Erica Schwartz known for?
Pandemic preparedness is the thread running through her career. At Coast Guard headquarters, Schwartz instituted the service’s disease surveillance program. She also wrote its first-ever force health protection policies, according to her official Coast Guard biography. Those covered pandemic influenza, anthrax and smallpox vaccination, quarantinable communicable disease and HIV. Additionally, she served as the Coast Guard’s principal expert on pandemic influenza.
Her operational record spans Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the 2009 H1N1 pandemi, and the Haiti earthquake. She also deployed for Deepwater Horizon, then served as one of the Ebola Crisis Action Team leaders. Then came COVID-19, when she oversaw the federal drive-through testing program. She also helped coordinate nationwide vaccine deployment. Dr. Brett Giroir, then assistant secretary for health, called her “really wicked smart.”
Her decorations include two Meritorious Service Medals plus Coast Guard and Navy Commendation Medals. The Military Health System also named her one of its Female Physicians of the Year.
Is Dr. Erica Schwartz a Republican or a Democrat?
No public record documents a party registration for Schwartz, and she has not identified with either party. Her career instead followed the uniformed service track, where officers serve both parties. She held the deputy surgeon general post during Trump’s first term. Then she acted as the HHS point person for the handoff to the Biden administration.
Her confirmation still split largely along party lines. Republicans supplied nearly all the yes votes. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia was the only Democrat to support her, The Hill notes. Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, opposed the nomination over concerns about Kennedy.
Who is Dr. Erica Schwartz’s husband?
Schwartz is married to Dr. Daniel Schwartz, a Brown University classmate. The two graduated from the medical school class of 1998 together, meaning she left Providence with both a medical degree and a spouse.
The couple has children. Still, Schwartz has consistently kept details of her family life out of public view. That reticence is common among senior federal health officials, particularly those whose work draws political heat.
Her family background is better documented. Schwartz’s father served as a career Navy master chief petty officer in San Diego. Three of her siblings also joined the military. Her parents gave her two options after high school: pay for college herself, or enlist. Ultimately, she did both, joining the Navy while studying at Brown.
Why is the CDC important?
Congress created the CDC in 1946 with $10 million and one narrow assignment: stop malaria, according to HHS. That remit has expanded enormously since. Today it tracks infectious outbreaks, chronic disease, injuries and environmental hazards, and supplies the data local health departments rely on.
Its current caseload shows why that infrastructure matters. As of Aug. 27, 2026, the CDC had confirmed 2,903 measles cases nationwide, the highest annual total since 1991. Meanwhile, it is tracking outbreaks of cyclosporiasis and Ebola.
For Black communities, the stakes run deeper still. In 2022, CDC data compiled by the HHS Office of Minority Health put Black life expectancy at 72.8 years. White life expectancy sat at 77.5. Heart disease and cancer rank as the top two causes of death.
Guidance only works, though, if people believe it. Dr. Chris Ford is an emergency medicine physician in Milwaukee and hosts the Pulse Check Wisconsin podcast. He told Blavity Health that mistrust in Black communities “did not develop without reason.” Transparency and acknowledgment move the needle, he said. Lectures do not. “We cannot rebuild trust by dismissing people’s concerns,” Ford said, “or simply telling communities that they should trust us.”
The messenger matters as well. Ford pointed to research on racial concordance between doctors and patients. In one randomized Oakland study, Black men took up more preventive services after meeting a Black physician. Representation, Ford said, is therefore not simply symbolic.
Dennis noted that when federal messaging turns contested, Black patients often route around it. They “tend to turn to families, communities, holistic and cultural spiritual leaders and religious leaders,” she said. Given the history behind that instinct, the agency has funded efforts like scholarships for Tuskegee study descendants. Still, the gap leaves room that misinformation fills quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the CDC funded by?
Congress funds the CDC through annual appropriations routed via HHS, with additional private gifts flowing through the CDC Foundation.
Who are some of the former CDC directors?
The CDC’s own archive lists Susan Monarez, Mandy Cohen, Rochelle Walensky, Robert Redfield, Tom Frieden and David Satcher, among others.
Citations
Huang P. Dr. Erica Schwartz confirmed as CDC director, filling a leadership vacuum. NPR. Published August 5, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/08/05/nx-s1-5920379/cdc-director-confirmed-erica-schwartz
Rodriguez B. The first Black woman to lead the CDC will face an uphill battle in restoring trust. The 19th. Published August 8, 2026. https://19thnews.org/2026/08/erica-schwartz-cdc-director-trust-vaccines-science/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Statement on the Resignation of the CDC Principal Deputy Director. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published February 23, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2026/2026-statement-on-the-resignation-of-the-cdc-principal-deputy-director.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measles Cases and Outbreaks. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Updated August 7, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Past CDC Directors/Administrators. CDC Museum. https://www.cdc.gov/museum/history/pastdirectors.html
Congressional Research Service. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Congressional Research Service. IF12241. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12241
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. Black/African American Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/blackafrican-american-health
U.S. Coast Guard. Rear Admiral Erica Schwartz, Director of Health, Safety, and Work-Life. U.S. Coast Guard. https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Portals/10/senior_leaders/bio/EricaSchwartz.pdf
Alsan M, Garrick O, Graziani G. Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland. American Economic Review. 2019. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20181446
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. FY 2026 CDC Budget Overview. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2026/fy-2026-cdc-budget-overview-factsheet.pdf