Erica Schwartz
Erica G. Schwartz is a U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps rear admiral who currently serves as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States. As a Commissioned Corps officer, she served with the U.S. Coast Guard as their Chief of Health Services and Chief of Preventive Medicine at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters and became its principal expert on flu pandemics. Prior to becoming Deputy Surgeon General, she served as the Coast Guard's Chief Medical Officer in 2015 to 2019. She assumed her current assignment on March 1, 2019.
Erica Schwartz | |
|---|---|
 Schwartz as Deputy Surgeon General | |
| Allegiance |  |
| Service/ |   |
| Years of service | 1994–2005 (Navy) 2005–present (Public Health Service) |
| Rank |  |
| Commands held | Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Chief Medical Officer, U.S. Coast Guard |
| Awards | Legion of Merit Meritorious Service Medal (2) Coast Guard Commendation Medal Navy Commendation Medal |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. Daniel Schwartz |
Early life and education
Schwartz graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University in 1994 and was awarded a doctorate in medicine from the same institution in 1998. She later attended the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and was awarded a master's degree in public health in 2000 and completed an occupational and environmental medicine residency in 2001. Schwartz also has a juris doctorate from the University of Maryland and has been admitted to the District of Columbia Bar.[1]
Career
Schwartz served in the United States Navy in Annapolis, Maryland and Portsmouth, Virginia until 2005 when she joined the U.S. Public Health Service and transferred from the Navy to the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.[2] Early in her career, as a Navy officer, she served as an occupational medicine physician with postings that included chief of the occupational medicine, immunization and preventative medicine departments of the Annapolis, Maryland Naval Medical Clinic. Schwartz also served at the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center in Portsmouth, Virginia.[1]
Schwartz served as Chief of Health Services and Chief of Preventive Medicine at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C. where she implemented disease surveillance, vaccination, screening and NBC countermeasure programs. She wrote the service's first ever pandemic influenza, anthrax and smallpox vaccination, quarantinable communicable disease, periodic health assessment and HIV policies. Schwartz also worked to develop health protection guidance for armed forces deployments following Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, the 2009 flu pandemic, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the West Africa Ebola outbreak.[1] She was appointed as the Coast Guard's principal expert on flu pandemics.[1] Schwartz has been awarded one Legion of Merit, two Meritorious Service Medals, both the Coast Guard and Navy Commendation Medals and, in 2011, was recognised as one of the Military Health System female physicians of the year.[1]
U.S. Public Health Service admiralship
Schwartz was appointed to the rank of rear admiral in the commissioned corps along with her appointment as the U.S. Coast Guard's Chief Medical Officer on 17 August 2015.[2][1] As chief, she concurrently served as the Coast Guard's Director of Health, Safety and Work-Life and had responsibility for managing the service's 42 clinics and 150 sick bays. She oversaw the Coast Guard's environmental health and safety program, focusing on risk management and accident prevention. She also led the service's work-life programs including: child care, culinary services, substance abuse prevention, suicide prevention, sexual assault prevention, personal financial management, ombudsman, health promotion, and employee assistance.[1]
In January 2018, Rear Admiral Schwartz testified before the U.S. House Transportation Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation on the need for the service to transition to an electronic health record system, in line with the other services of the U.S. Armed Forces. She stated that the current paper-based record and prescription system did not allow efficient transfer of records from the Coast Guard to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.[3]
Schwartz was selected for appointment as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States on 1 January 2019.
References
- "Rear Admiral Erica Schwartz" (PDF). US Coast Guard. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- Braynard, Katie (17 August 2015). "Rear Adm. Erica Schwartz to take over as chief medical officer". Coast Guard All Hands. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- Cebul, Daniel (1 February 2018). "GAO: Manual health records put Coast Guard personnel at risk". Federal Times. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
External links
