Senate votes to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director

The Senate voted on Wednesday to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Schwartz was confirmed in a 51-44 vote that generally fell along party lines.She will replace Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), who took over as acting CDC director in February, and become the first permanent director in about a year.Erica Schwartz, nominee to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., July 15, 2026.Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersSchwartz earned a medical degree from Brown University and served in the U.S. Navy until 2005.Popular ReadsShe served in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, as the Coast Guard Chief Medical Officer and as Deputy Surgeon General from 2019 to early 2021, during the first Trump administration.This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.