President Donald Trump on April 16 said he nominated a new director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Dr. Erica Schwartz will lead the CDC, pending Senate confirmation. Trump called Schwartz, who holds a medical degree, a juris doctorate, and a master’s degree in public health, “incredibly talented” and “a STAR.”

Schwartz’s professional background includes serving as a doctor in the U.S. military, working as chief medical officer of the Coast Guard, and holding the position of deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first term.

In Trump’s second term, the CDC has had a permanent director for only about one month. Trump fired Susan Monarez on Aug. 27, 2025—about four weeks after the Senate confirmed her—following clashes between Monarez and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccines.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, head of the National Institutes of Health, has recently been serving as the top CDC official.

Chris Klomp, chief counselor at the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC’s parent agency, has said that officials were looking for “an exceptional leader that would drive trust for this organization and be able to reform and drive the president’s agenda for the CDC.” Officials have said they are working on returning the CDC to its principal goal of protecting the country from infectious diseases after what they have described as missteps during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schwartz will need to win support from all Republicans or some Democrats on the Senate Health Committee, which has for months held up the nomination of Dr. Casey Means as surgeon general.

Trump also said on April 16 that the CDC will have a new leadership team supporting the director, consisting of Sean Slovenski, a former Walmart executive; Dr. Jennifer Shuford, commissioner of health in Texas; and Dr. Sara Brenner, a current Food and Drug Administration official.

“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 [President Joe Biden],” Trump wrote.

“Together, they will do a TREMENDOUS job leading the CDC as we continue to MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AND GREAT AGAIN!”

Kennedy said on X that he was thankful for the new selections for CDC leadership.

“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,” he wrote.