Newly confirmed CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz says her initial agenda will focus on rebuilding public trust, improving the agency’s ability to identify health threats quickly and strengthening cooperation with states and local communities.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Erica Schwartz has outlined three priorities for the agency as she begins her tenure: restoring confidence through transparency and scientific rigor, improving the CDC’s capacity to identify and respond to emerging health threats, and expanding its relationships with states and communities.
The CDC announced Schwartz’s priorities Aug. 20 following conversations between the newly sworn-in director and agency employees.
According to the agency, Schwartz emphasized that rebuilding public trust will require the CDC to listen to Americans and better understand their concerns while ensuring the agency’s scientific work is conducted rigorously and communicated openly.
She also expressed support for the CDC workforce and said she wants the agency prepared to respond effectively when new public health threats emerge.
“Together, we can protect what is strongest about CDC, improve what must be improved, and prepare this extraordinary institution for whatever comes our way,” Schwartz said. “That is a mission worthy of our very best.”
Schwartz was narrowly confirmed by the Senate earlier in August, becoming the second Senate-confirmed CDC director during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Before taking over the CDC, Schwartz served as deputy surgeon general and chief medical officer of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Her opening agenda closely reflects the commitments she made to senators during her confirmation process.
At her confirmation hearing, Schwartz said one of her objectives would be “restoring trust in public health through radical transparency and unwavering scientific integrity.”
She also called for modernizing the CDC “into a near real-time public health enterprise capable of detecting threats early and responding faster.”
Schwartz told senators she would “never compromise on the science” and expressed support for vaccines.
It was unclear whether her conversations with CDC employees addressed vaccine-related policy changes undertaken by the Trump administration, including the president’s executive order calling for the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to be separated.
The CDC did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for recordings or transcripts of Schwartz’s conversations with agency staff.
Her confirmation comes under a new legal framework governing leadership of the CDC.
Senate approval was not previously required for the agency’s directors. A law that took effect in 2025 changed that process, requiring future CDC directors to receive Senate confirmation.
The first person to serve as a Senate-confirmed CDC director was Susan Monarez.
Trump removed Monarez after approximately one month in the position following disagreements with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. concerning how the CDC should handle recommendations from a group of vaccine advisers Kennedy had selected.
Schwartz has indicated she is prepared to challenge Kennedy if circumstances require it.
During the confirmation process, she said she would be willing to have “very difficult conversations” with the health secretary when necessary.
Kennedy has said he participated in selecting Schwartz and had examined her views on vaccines before her nomination.
After Trump nominated Schwartz, Kennedy publicly welcomed the appointment and connected it to his broader effort to reshape the nation’s public health agencies.
“I look forward to working together to restore trust, accountability, and scientific integrity at the CDC so we can return it to its core mission and Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy wrote on X.
Schwartz now takes control of the CDC with an early agenda centered on institutional credibility, faster health-threat detection and stronger relationships between the federal agency and officials working at the state and community levels.
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