Obama FDA Picked Hailed By Public Health Experts, Officials

Main Category: Regulatory Affairs / Drug Approvals
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 13 Mar 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Top public health officials and experts on Wednesday praised President Obama's reported selection of former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as his nominee for FDA commissioner, the New York Times reports. The administration is expected to announce the decision, which first was reported Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal, this week. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner, will be nominated as FDA deputy commissioner, according to officials briefed on the decision.

Harvey Fineberg, president of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, said Hamburg "has a deep commitment to the public health and, while she appreciates the vital role of industry, will surely focus on what is best for the public." Jeffrey Levi, executive director of the not-for-profit Trust for America's Health, said Hamburg had tackled operational and funding issues as New York's health commissioner and could do the same at FDA, which faces similar problems. "Right now the FDA needs a strong leader with a clear sense of mission who can fight for the resources that the agency needs and do it in a bipartisan manner" (Harris, New York Times, 3/12). Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women and Families, said Hamburg "had a very impressive track record in New York and the question is: Can she bring that to this underfunded, dysfunctional agency?"

According to the Washington Post, Hamburg's anticipated nomination comes at a time when FDA has been "[s]haken by a series of alarming failures." Former officials, lawmakers, advocacy groups and government reports have urged that the agency "desperately needs an infusion of strong leadership, money, technology and personnel -- and perhaps a major restructuring," the Post reports. FDA has an annual budget of more than $2 billion and nearly 11,000 employees. The agency oversees products that comprise about 25% of consumer spending, including medications, food and medical devices. However, "morale within the FDA plummeted as a result of accusations of ideological bias and tilting toward industry," the Post reports (Stein/Layton, Washington Post, 3/12).

Broadcast Coverage

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Thursday reported on the decision. The segment includes comments from Hamburg and Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association (Silberner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 3/12).

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