FDA Commissioner Califf’s Advice to His Successor and RFK Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called the FDA a "corrupt system" that is waging "war on public health." He has pledged to eliminate "entire departments" at the agency and warned the 18,000 people who work there to "pack your bags."
Maybe RFK Jr. is confirmed (far from certainty) as secretary of Health and Human Services, the FDA’s parent. Maybe Marty Makary becomes the next FDA commissioner. Maybe the agency needs an overhaul. But easier said than done, Robert Califf said in his last days as FDA commissioner. The Los Angeles Times was among a group of media Califf spoke to last week in the FDA's White Oak campus in Silver Spring, Md.
“This is a job that has a lot of bosses and a lot of constraints,” Califf said. “When you’re in the commissioner's office at FDA, you report to the executive branch. But Congress also thinks it’s your boss. It’s not unheard of for FDA to want to do something and get a message from an important appropriator that, ‘If you do this, we’re going to cut your budget somewhere else.’ ”
The LA Times article is a fascinating read on Califf’s advice to those who will take over public health roles in the incoming Trump administration. Read it here.