And then there were two

A cardiologist and a city health official lead the pack of potential FDA commissioners

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share
The blogosphere has been alight this week with the news that only two candidates remain in the running to become President Barack Obama's new FDA commissioner: Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's city health commissioner and linkurl:Robert Califf,;http://www.dukemedicine.org/Leadership/Administration/CaliffRobert%20 Duke University's vice chancellor for clinical research.
Califf
linkurl:Peter Pitts,;http://www.cmpi.org/about-us/founders/peter-pitts/ president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) and former FDAstaffer, confirmed those rumors, both on linkurl:DrugWonks.com;http://www.drugwonks.com/blog_post/show/6571 -- CMPI's blog -- and when I called him yesterday. Pitts, who has advised the Obama transition team, said that Sharfstein and Califf were the only two names receiving serious consideration.The gravity of Obama's choice seems to increase day by day. Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office linkurl:placed;http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-271 the FDA on a list of "high-risk" areas of the federal government, to attract the attentions of legislators. "FDA needs to, among other things, improve the data it uses to manage the foreign drug inspection program, conduct more inspections of foreign establishments, systematically prioritize and track promotional materials for review, and adopt management tools to ensure that drug sponsors comply with regulations on the presentation of clinical trial results," the GAO report reads.
Sharfstein
Sharfstein, recently deflected speculation that he would be taking up the helm at FDA, linkurl:telling;http://invivoblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/sharfstein-speaks-is-he-headed-to.html a radio reporter, "I'm fully expecting to be health commissioner of Baltimore."Califf, a cardiologist who is also director of Duke's Translational Medicine Institute, seems to be a logical fit for the FDA. He has served on the FDA's Cardio-Renal Advisory Committee and on committees and panels at the Institute of Medicine.Though some blogs are reporting that Obama has already offered the FDA commissionership to one of these two guys, and that an announcement is imminent, we may have to wait a bit longer. "I would like to think a commissioner would be named before Valentine's Day," Pitts told __The Scientist__.
**__Related stories:__***linkurl:The between team;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55329/
[12th January 2009]*linkurl:Morale Mire;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/55234/
[December 2008]
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Bob Grant

    From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer.
Share
Image of small blue creatures called Nergals. Some have hearts above their heads, which signify friendship. There is one Nergal who is sneezing and losing health, which is denoted by minus one signs floating around it.
June 2025, Issue 1

Nergal Networks: Where Friendship Meets Infection

A citizen science game explores how social choices and networks can influence how an illness moves through a population.

View this Issue
Unraveling Complex Biology with Advanced Multiomics Technology

Unraveling Complex Biology with Five-Dimensional Multiomics

Element Bioscience Logo
Resurrecting Plant Defense Mechanisms to Avoid Crop Pathogens

Resurrecting Plant Defense Mechanisms to Avoid Crop Pathogens

Twist Bio 
The Scientist Placeholder Image

Seeing and Sorting with Confidence

BD
The Scientist Placeholder Image

Streamlining Microbial Quality Control Testing

MicroQuant™ by ATCC logo

Products

The Scientist Placeholder Image

Agilent Unveils the Next Generation in LC-Mass Detection: The InfinityLab Pro iQ Series

parse-biosciences-logo

Pioneering Cancer Plasticity Atlas will help Predict Response to Cancer Therapies

waters-logo

How Alderley Analytical are Delivering eXtreme Robustness in Bioanalysis