{
  "id": 2000796,
  "title": "STAT+: New CDC director tells staff she is prepared to speak ‘truth to power’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/stat-new-cdc-director-tells-staff-she-is-prepared-to-speak-truth-to",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-19T19:31:45.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "STAT News",
    "slug": "stat-news",
    "url": "https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/19/cdc-director-erica-schwartz-staff-meeting-truth-to-power/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "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.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Winnipeg Free Press",
        "title": "New CDC director acknowledges agency problems in first large staff meeting",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/new-cdc-director-acknowledges-agency-problems-in-first-large-staff",
        "published": "2026-08-19T20:55:26.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}