Anne Schuchat

Dr. Anne Schuchat, MD, RADM, USPHS, RET is an American physician.

Dr. Schuchat graduated from Swarthmore College and Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine and completed her residency and chief residency in internal medicine at New York University’s Manhattan VA Hospital.

Schuchat joined Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer in 1988, first in the Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch of the Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases. She served as Chief of the Respiratory Diseases Branch from 1998-2005, and as director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases from 2006-2015.

Schuchat began working as the Principal Deputy Director of the CDC in September 2015, and as acting Administrator for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. She served as acting CDC director from January to July 2017 and February to March 2018.¹⁾ She left the agency in May 2021.²⁾

Schuchat played key roles in CDC emergency responses including the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza response, the 2003 SARS outbreak in Beijing, and the 2001 bioterrorist anthrax response. Globally, she has worked on meningitis, pneumonia and Ebola vaccine trials in West Africa, and conducted surveillance and prevention projects in South Africa.

In April 2017, Schuchat participated in a panel discussion at 8th Annual CUGH Global Health Conference titled “Future of Infectious Disease Pandemics: From Ebola to Zika, and Beyond”.³⁾ Her co-panelists included Anthony Fauci and Peter Daszak.

During the panel, Schuchat praised the Chinese Communist Party’s response to China’s first SARS outbreak:⁴⁾

• “A key lesson was that cover-ups are not worth it. You may recall the Minister of Health and the Mayor of Beijing were both removed during the SARS epidemic and that being transparent and open with your situation is a lot better.”
• “Beijing did an incredible job of responding once the political level let them respond. They took over the healthcare system.”

In June 2021, Schuchat indicated she supported further investigations into the origin of SARS-CoV-2.⁵⁾

Schuchat was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.⁶⁾

On a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) assignment in 2003, she headed the Beijing epidemiology team for the World Health Organization’s China Office. She later served as a visiting professor for the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.⁷⁾

Schuchat is a member of the board of directors of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.⁸⁾

Schuchat was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.⁹⁾

Schuchat a member of the Stanford University’s Global Emerging Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee.¹⁰⁾

Schuchat is a former Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.¹¹⁾

She is currently a member of the World Health Organization Health Hazards Advisory Group.¹²⁾ She has been a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE).¹³⁾