The U.S. Senate voted 51-44 on Wednesday to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, giving the public health agency its first permanent leader in nearly a year.

Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general and retired Navy rear admiral, takes control of the Atlanta-based agency following months of leadership turnover, employee departures, and intense political debate over federal health policy.

During her confirmation hearings before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, lawmakers pressed Schwartz on whether she would protect the agency’s scientific integrity and withstand political pressure surrounding vaccine recommendations. Schwartz pledged to lead with “radical transparency” and vowed that she would “never betray the science.”

She succeeds National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who had been serving as acting CDC director since February. Schwartz assumes the role as the agency continues to navigate public health responses to localized disease outbreaks and ongoing efforts to rebuild public trust