STAT+: New CDC director tells staff she is prepared to speak ‘truth to power’

Erica Schwartz, the newly appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), addressed her staff in a staff meeting on Wednesday, expressing her readiness to "speak truth to power" and challenge administration leaders when necessary. In her first all-hands address, Schwartz outlined three key priorities for the agency: maintaining trust through radical transparency and scientific rigor; enhancing the CDC's capacity to respond to disease threats; and strengthening relationships with state and local partners.

Schwartz made it clear that if required, she would stand up to health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure the accomplishment of these goals.

Brief written by urgent.news from STAT News's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.