Why public health officials are 'cautiously optimistic' about Trump's CDC pick

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Set us as preferred Confirmation hearings began Wednesday for Dr.Erica Schwartz, President Trump’s pick to head the U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.In a typical administration, it would not be headline news that a potential CDC director supports vaccination and other basic public health measures.But the second Trump administration is anything but typical, and Schwartz’s nomination is for many public health proponents a pleasant surprise.She served as deputy Surgeon General in Trump’s first administration and holds degrees in medicine, law and public health.Schwartz is a board-certified preventive medicine physician with a long track record of relevant professional experience and government service, primarily with the U.S.

military.She’s familiar with the agency she’s been chosen to lead.

Public health experts praised her appointment.She appeared this week before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which will decide whether her nomination advances to a full Senate vote.Among former CDC staff and advisers, there is tentative hope that Schwartz’s nomination could mark the start of a more sober-minded era at the embattled agency — provided that she is actually given the authority to do the job.Schwartz “has the expertise, credibility and integrity to lead the CDC effectively.

If allowed to follow the science without political interference, she’ll excel,” Dr.Jerome Adams posted after her nomination was announced back in April.

Adams, who selected Schwartz as his deputy while serving as Trump’s first Surgeon General, clarified: “Cautiously optimistic but encouraged by this pick.”“As CDC director, my sacred responsibility is to provide the American people with public health guidance that is clear, honest and evidence based.I will never betray the science,”...