Anne Schuchat '80

Anne Schuchat ‘80 H’05 served as principal deputy director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) until 2021. A physician and epidemiologist, she began her public health career as an epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC in 1988 and directed the agency’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases from 2006 to 2015.

Schuchat spearheaded prevention of newborn infection from group B streptococcal disease in the 1990s. She has worked in West Africa, on meningitis, pneumonia, and Ebola vaccine trials; South Africa, on surveillance and prevention projects; and China, on Beijing’s SARS emergency response. She has authored or co-authored more than 230 scientific articles, book chapters, and reviews.

Schuchat was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2010 and is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American State and Territorial Health Officials, the J Utz Leadership Award by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, and the U.S. Public Health Service Distinguished Service Medal.

Schuchat earned a B.A. with highest honors in philosophy and a minor in biology from Swarthmore, as well as an M.D. with honors from Dartmouth Medical School. She served on Swarthmore's Alumni Council in 1992 and in 2005, she received an Honorary Doctor of Science from the College.