Trump picks new director for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

by Ashley Murray, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

April 16, 2026

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will nominate Erica Schwartz, who served in the president’s first administration, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a seat left vacant for months after his last director said she was ousted in a rift over childhood vaccines.

Trump announced his new pick on his social media platform, Truth Social, touting Schwartz’s career as a medical doctor with the U.S. armed forces.

“She is a STAR!” he wrote.

Schwartz was a deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first term, and previously served as the director of health, safety and work life while a rear admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard.

Trump’s previous CDC director, Susan Monarez, told U.S. senators under oath in September that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired her for not agreeing to pre-approve changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, and for refusing to fire agency scientists without cause. 

Monarez held the position for just 29 days before she was ousted. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on a party-line vote in July.

The president also announced nominations of several other health officials to fill open spots at the CDC.

“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 Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,” Trump wrote.

“These Highly Respected Doctors of Medicine have 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,” he added.

The CDC’s vaccine advisory committee adjusted recommendations for childhood vaccines in September, withdrawing the agency’s recommendation that children receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

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