Aveanna Elects Former Deputy Surgeon General Erica Schwartz, MD, JD, MPH to Board of Directors
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ATLANTA, May 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. ("Aveanna") announced today that Erica Schwartz, MD, JD, MPH was elected to its Board of Directors on May 13, 2021 for a three-year term. She will also serve on the Clinical Quality and Compliance Committee of the Board. Dr. Schwartz brings a wealth of healthcare experience including most recently having served as the Deputy Surgeon General for the Department of Health and Human Services, where she led the country's public health deployment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are delighted to welcome Erica to Aveanna's Board of Directors," stated Rod Windley, Executive Chairman of Aveanna. "Erica is an outstanding leader with over 20 years of experience managing large and diverse healthcare systems. Her unique experience, judgment, and perspective will bring significant value to the Board and the company, and we look forward to benefitting from her expertise as we continue to execute our strategy, drive growth, and enhance value for our shareholders."
Prior to her role as the Deputy Surgeon General, Dr. Schwartz spent 24 years in uniformed service, during which time she was promoted through the ranks to Rear Admiral of the U.S. Coast Guard, where she served as the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Health, Safety, and Work Life from 2015-2019. In that capacity, she was responsible for the Coast Guard's health care system of 42 clinics and 150 sick bays, as well as operational and off-duty mishap prevention, response, and investigation. She also oversaw the Coast Guard's childcare, substance abuse prevention, suicide prevention, special needs, family advocacy, and sexual assault prevention and response programs, among others.
Previously, Dr. Schwartz served as the U.S. Coast Guard's Chief of Health Services from 2013-2015 and Preventive Medicine Chief from 2005-2013, where she instituted critical inter- and intra-agency programs including Navy Safe Harbor, disease surveillance, deployment health, and the chemical, biological, and radiological medical countermeasures programs. During this time, she also served as the Coast Guard's principal expert on the pandemic influenza and developed health protection guidance for armed forces deployments following numerous contingencies operations such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and the West Africa Ebola outbreak.
Dr. Schwartz is trained and Board certified in Preventive Medicine. She received a Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University, an M.D. from Brown University School of Medicine, a Master of Public Health degree with a dual concentration in health services administration and occupational and environmental medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.
About Aveanna Healthcare
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Aveanna is a leading, diversified home care platform focused on providing care to medically complex, high-cost patient populations. Aveanna directly addresses the most pressing challenges facing the U.S. healthcare system by providing safe, high-quality care in the home, the lower cost care setting preferred by patients.
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SOURCE Aveanna Healthcare