Commissioner hunt
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Lester Crawford, DVM/PhD, director of Georgetown University's Center for Food & Nutrition, is being considered as a candidate to assume FDA's top spot. His selection would suggest an emphasis on FDA's food safety programs; other potential nominees such as Stanford University cardiologist Paul Yock, MD, have backgrounds more relevant to the medical product review functions of the agency. In addition to food and veterinary medicine expertise, Crawford brings an understanding of biomedical research advocacy. In 1997, he testified before Congress on behalf of the National Association for Biomedical Research to defend cloning research in animals. Crawford has also served as a voting consultant on FDA's Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Advisory Committee