WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden on Friday chose Dr. Robert Califf, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, to again lead the powerful regulatory agency.
Califf’s nomination comes after months of concern that the agency near the center of the government’s COVID-19 response has lacked a permanent leader. More than a half-dozen names were floated for the job before the White House settled on Califf.
A cardiologist and clinical trial specialist, Califf, 70, served as FDA commissioner for the last 11 months of President Barack Obama’s second term. Before that, he spent one year as the agency’s No. 2 official after more than 35 years as a prominent researcher at Duke University, where he helped design studies for many of the world’s biggest drugmakers.
Since leaving government, he has worked as a policy adviser to tech giant Google, in addition to his ongoing academic work at Duke.
“As the FDA considers many consequential decisions around vaccine approvals and more, it is mission critical that we have a steady, independent hand to guide the FDA,” Biden said in a statement announcing his decision.