A step toward stability? Atlanta health professionals react to CDC nomination
The Trump administration’s new pick to lead the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has elicited a mix of confidence and wariness from metro Atlanta health professionals and former agency employees.
President Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post Thursday, described Dr. Erica Schwartz as “incredibly talented.” She holds medical and law degrees, served as Deputy Surgeon General during Trump’s first term and as Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard.
And, she is a vaccine supporter.
Schwartz is a more traditional choice for director, professionals who spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution agreed. But will she be able to stabilize a tumultuous agency that has seen a revolving door of leadership, extensive firings, safety concerns and an erosion of public trust?
Abby Tighe was one of many fired from the agency in February of last year while working in overdose prevention. She said current CDC employees — many of whom she maintains contact with — just want strong leadership that allows them to do their work.
She said Schwartz has all the credentials she would expect from a CDC director, but only time will tell if she will be a good fit.
“You’re putting a director in place into an organization that is so deeply dismantled that it’s going to take much longer than a year or six months to get it up and functioning the way that it was just a year and a half ago,” said Tighe, who is now the executive director of the National Public Health Coalition, a grassroots organization that advocates for the protection of public health as a government service.
Dr. Jodie Guest said she wants people to trust science again. She expressed confidence that Schwartz, who Guest highlighted is a career public health professional with experience in emergency preparedness, will be able to regain public trust in the agency.
Guest is the senior vice chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, and is an infectious disease epidemiologist with extensive experience in HIV research.
“What we really want is for them to work in a space that is true to the science, true to the workers at the CDC and the incredible efforts that they put into increasing the longevity and quality of life of everyone every single day,” she said.
But Guest recognized that the CDC’s director is an appointed position that can come with an entanglement with politics and the administration. She said she hopes Schwartz will be able to do her work with less meddling.
She described the nomination as an opportunity for the agency to stabilize and allow science to dictate decisions.
“When (trust) is eroded, and that is no longer a place you can turn to, that causes incredible misinformation and disinformation to swirl, and then we see actual, real health outcomes impacted,” she said.
Schwartz must still be confirmed by the Senate before assuming her role at the CDC, which is overseen by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. If confirmed, she would be the CDC’s fourth leader in just over a year.
The administration previously nominated Susan Monarez, but she was ousted in late August, less than a month after being confirmed by the Senate. A wave of senior CDC leadership resigned in protest after her departure.
At the time, the CDC was already facing tensions. Kennedy had fired the entire membership of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — a group of outside experts who make recommendations on vaccines — hundreds of employees were laid off and an Aug. 8 shooting rattled workers.
And in the months that followed, more uncertainty persisted. Additional layoffs, leadership changes, and alterations to health policies and recommendations created a sense of chaos and doubt.
On Thursday, when Trump announced Schwartz’s nomination and those of others, he said the new leadership would “have the knowledge, experience, and TOP degrees to restore the GOLD STANDARD OF SCIENCE at the CDC.” Kennedy soon after posted on social media congratulating Schwartz on the nomination.
As a newborn ICU doctor at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Dr. Stephen Patrick said he turns to CDC resources to inform patient care. He noted a growing uncertainty among parents over standard vaccination schedules, attributing the skepticism to CDC policy changes that have, according to him, “undermined” basic public health systems.
Patrick said he has personally seen parents pause before both approving infant vaccinations and administering acetaminophen to kids when they are recovering from serious procedures.
“As a clinician, I rely upon the CDC for so many things, for so much evidence that sort of translates into my clinical practice. And so, I think, this regrouping and, hopefully, new direction will help us have a more reliable partner in the CDC,” he said.
Patrick, who also chairs the Department of Health Policy and Management at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, said Schwartz was an encouraging pick by the administration because she is “clearly qualified” and supports vaccinations.
But while some health care professionals share a greater sense of optimism, former CDC employees remain on edge.
Sarah Boim was also fired from the CDC last year in the first layoffs, led by Elon Musk at President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. She worked in communications for the agency, has remained outspoken ever since and said she is “cautiously optimistic” about the nomination.
Boim leads the “Fired but Fighting” group comprised of terminated CDC workers and is a member of the National Public Health Coalition.
“Her credentials are there. She’s a doctor; she’s an MPH (masters of public health); she’s publicly supported vaccines. So, all leaning toward a traditional CDC director, posture, kind of person — but she is aligned with Trump,” Boim said.
She and Tighe both agree the CDC lost a wealth of knowledge after so many were let go, and both would like to see former employees rehired under Schwartz’s leadership. But Tighe said many former workers aren’t interested, and she worries qualified professionals who have never worked at the CDC will also stay away because of the agency becoming increasingly political and scrutinized.
While both women view Schwartz’s nomination as a step in the right direction, Boim said she fears the CDC will suffer another collapse.
Former director Monarez was ousted from her job after pressure from Kennedy to preapprove vaccine recommendations. Monarez’s lawyers at the time, Mark Zaid and Abbe David Lowell, said she refused to “rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.”
Boim said Monarez stood up for the agency and for science.
“If you could guarantee to folks that you can go back and do your work and we’re not going to stifle your ability to help the American people, I think everybody would jump at a chance to get back to work,” Tighe said.
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