White House favors former deputy surgeon general to lead CDC, Washington Post says

April 14 (Reuters) – The White House is considering Erica Schwartz as the new leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Washington Post said on Tuesday, citing three sources who sought anonymity to speak about the plan.

A former navy physician, Schwartz was deputy U.S. surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first term. 

Sean Slovenski, a former Walmart executive, is also envisaged as Schwartz’s top deputy pending Trump’s approval, the paper added. 

The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the CDC, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. 

News of Schwartz’s appointment follows leadership shakeups at the CDC since Trump fired Director Susan Monarez last August, over her objections to vaccine policy changes planned by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

She was replaced by HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill, who was succeeded in February by Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

O’Neill, who held the role of acting CDC director in addition to his HHS post since August, vacated both in February and was offered the position of director of the National Science Foundation.

Also in line for senior CDC roles are Texas health commissioner Jen Shuford and top FDA official Sara Brenner, Dan Diamond, a reporter at the paper, posted on X, citing sources.   

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Clarence Fernandez)