The full U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), placing the former deputy surgeon general in charge of the nation’s leading public health agency. President Trump nominated Schwartz in April, with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee advancing her nomination on July 30 in a 13-10 vote. Schwartz, 54, previously served as deputy surgeon general from 2019 to 2021 and retired as a rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. During her confirmation hearing, Schwartz pledged to provide Americans with clear, evidence-based public health guidance and said she would “never betray the science.” Her confirmation makes Schwartz the 22nd director of the CDC and the first Black woman to permanently lead the agency.