Crawford Nominated as Permanent FDA Chief

President Bush on February 15 nominated Lester M. Crawford, currently Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, as that agency's permanent chief. Crawford previously served as chair of the Department of Physiology-Pharmacology at the University of Georgia, Administrator of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service and Deputy Commissioner of FDA.

FDA's biography of Crawford notes: Dr. Crawford has played major roles in mandatory nutrition labeling, the formation of the World Trade Organization and the control of chemical and microbiological contaminants of food. He has been an advisor to the World Health Organization of the United Nations for much of his career.Earlier in his career, Crawford was Director of the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at Georgetown University and Virginia Tech. He is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (UK). He earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Auburn University and his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Georgia.