Rear Adm. (Dr.) Erica G. Schwartz, 22 October 2015, U.S. Coast Guard photo

On April 16, 2026, the President nominated Rear Admiral Erica G. Schwartz (retired), M.D., J.D., M.P.H., former Deputy Surgeon General of the United States and former Chief Medical Officer for the Coast Guard, as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Below is a quote from Wikipedia regarding her time as the Coast Guard’s Chief Medical Officer.

“Schwartz was appointed to the rank of rear admiral in the PHS Commissioned Corps and became the U.S. Coast Guard Chief Medical Officer on August 17, 2015. As chief, she concurrently served as the Coast Guard’s Director of Health, Safety and Work-Life and had responsibility for managing the service’s 42 clinics and 150 sick bays. She oversaw the Coast Guard’s environmental health and safety program, focusing on risk management and accident prevention. She also led the service’s work-life programs including: child care, culinary services, substance abuse prevention, suicide prevention, sexual assault prevention, personal financial management, ombudsman, health promotion, and employee assistance.

“In January 2018, Schwartz testified before the House Transportation Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation on the need for the service to transition to an electronic health record system, in line with the other services of the U.S. Armed Forces. She stated that the current paper-based record and prescription system did not allow efficient transfer of records from the Coast Guard to the Department of Veterans Affairs.”