Obama’s Choice to Lead F.D.A. Doesn’t Shy Away From Difficult Situations

New York Times ^ | May 7, 2009 | GARDINER HARRIS

[nickcarraway]

Appointed in 1991 to serve as acting health commissioner of New York City, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg inherited urgent problems, a spare budget and a divided and demoralized staff.

The Food and Drug Administration could have a familiar feel for her.

The turnaround that she engineered is exactly what the Obama administration is hoping she will achieve at the drug agency, which is reeling from a host of similar problems.

On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will consider whether to confirm Dr. Hamburg as F.D.A. commissioner. The hearing was moved up a week in the wake of the swine flu outbreak, which has given her nomination urgency. She is expected to be confirmed.

Although she lacks deep experience in drug- or food-safety issues, Dr. Hamburg was an infectious disease researcher and is an expert in bioterrorism and public preparedness, both of which seem keenly relevant. Her leadership in New York has won her admirers among public health advocates, many of whom said she would be a good leader to an agency a previous commissioner had likened to a cancer patient.

The Food and Drug Agency regulates more than $1 trillion worth of consumer goods, including a third of all imported goods. It is widely thought to need major reforms, particularly to its oversight of food safety. An unusual group of internal whistle-blowers has claimed that the agency’s oversight of medical devices is deeply flawed.

Dr. Hamburg was born to tackle such problems, said her mother, Dr. Beatrix Hamburg. Her father is a former president of the Institute of Medicine. Shortly after Margaret Hamburg’s second birthday, her mother learned that her daughter had a fiercely independent streak and “was just not going to be pushed around,” Dr. Beatrix Hamburg said.

[ChiMark]

Obama likes strong, ugly America hating er... women.

Hamburger and napolitano should takes this freak show
to the cranival.

[Straight Vermonter]

Although she lacks deep experience in drug- or food-safety issues, Dr. Hamburg was an infectious disease researcher and is an expert in bioterrorism and public preparedness, both of which seem keenly relevant.

Yeah, sounds good for someone running CDC not for FDA. He still has yet to appoint someone to run CDC. This is in spite of the fact that he has had more than 180 days since being elected and we are in the middle of a "pandemic". What a tool.