Ping Huang

speaker

1,103 appearances 130 recordings 4 series first heard Jul 2025 last heard 5d ago

Ping Huang’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 112 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 20.

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Up First from NPR · Lebanon-Israel Ceasefire, Hegseth On Blockade, Trump Nominates New CDC Director · 17 Apr 2026 podcast

And she spent a lot of that time in the Coast Guard becoming its chief medical officer in 2015, charged with keeping all their service members healthy.

She also served as deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration, where she took on a big role with the COVID testing strategy.

And a few years ago, she retired as a rear admiral, left public service, and now Trump is inviting her back.

If she gets the role, she's going to be the face of a public health system that's been really struggling.

So the CDC is much quieter these days.

They're informing the public a lot less.

And they've been challenged recently for things like vaccine changes made under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Internally, Trump has again proposed big cuts to their budget and staffing.

And the people who remain there say that they've lost trust in the federal leadership.

Schwartz will have her work cut out for her.

Now, Admiral Paul Zuckamp, the former commandant of the Coast Guard who was her boss there, says she's got some traits that will serve her well.

Zuckamp says that she's well-schooled in the science and also good at communicating about issues that might be controversial.

So in testimony yesterday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

said that she, along with others named to help lead the CDC, have been getting applause from both Republicans and Democrats.

Public health leaders that I spoke with are cautiously optimistic, so are two high-up CDC officials I've spoken with, although they're not authorized to talk to the press.

They are glad that Schwartz has training and experience in public health, and they also think that a new executive team could bring some order back to the agency's leadership.

You know, sources there say that

there's a dozen or so political appointees jostling for influence there, and it's been really messy.

But

Schwartz does still need to get through Senate confirmation, which recent history shows can take a few months.

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