WASHINGTON, March 10, 2017 - President Trump is nominating Scott Gottlieb, a physician and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, to become commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, the White House said.
Gottlieb, whose nomination will need Senate confirmation, served as deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs at the FDA in 2005.
FDA regulates the safety of 80 percent of the food supply, or most foods other than meat and poultry, which are under the oversight of the Department of Agriculture.
Stephen Ostroff, the former deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, has been serving as acting commissioner since January.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a research and advocacy group, is calling on senators to question Gottlieb about his views on food regulation. “The FDA has the authority and the capacity to save tens of thousands of lives each year by improving America’s food supply,” said CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson.
“While having safe and effective drugs is surely important, eliminating the last of the artificial trans fat, reducing sodium, and modernizing food labeling are measures that can help Americans from getting sick in the first place.”
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The chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Gottlieb "has impressive qualifications helping American patients as both a physician and in his previous roles at the FDA."
Gottlieb’s writings for AEI have focused on the Affordable Care Act and prescription drug policy. He also is a frequent contributor to the The Wall Street Journal’s opinion section and maintains a blog at Forbes.com.
Gottlieb is a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm. Prior to his FDA position, he was a senior policy adviser to the administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, another division of the Department of Health and Human Services.
He earned his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wesleyan University.
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