Erica Schwartz

Dr. Schwartz has a wealth of healthcare experience including most recently having served as the Deputy Surgeon General for the Department of Health and Human Services, where she led the country's public health deployment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to her role as the Deputy Surgeon General, Dr. Schwartz spent 24 years in uniformed service, during which time she was promoted through the ranks to Rear Admiral of the U.S. Coast Guard, where she served as the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Health, Safety, and Work Life from 2015-2019. In that capacity, she was responsible for the Coast Guard's health care system of 42 clinics and 150 sick bays, as well as operational and off-duty mishap prevention, response, and investigation. She also oversaw the Coast Guard's childcare, substance abuse prevention, suicide prevention, special needs, family advocacy, and sexual assault prevention and response programs, among others.

Previously, Dr. Schwartz served as the U.S. Coast Guard's Chief of Health Services from 2013-2015 and Preventive Medicine Chief from 2005-2013, where she instituted critical inter- and intra-agency programs including Navy Safe Harbor, disease surveillance, deployment health, and the chemical, biological, and radiological medical countermeasures programs. During this time, she also served as the Coast Guard's principal expert on the pandemic influenza and developed health protection guidance for armed forces deployments following numerous contingencies operations such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and the West Africa Ebola outbreak.

Dr. Schwartz is trained and Board certified in Preventive Medicine. She received a Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University, an M.D. from Brown University School of Medicine, a Master of Public Health degree with a dual concentration in health services administration and occupational and environmental medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.