Trump taps White House adviser Heidi Overton to lead FDA

President Trump tapped Dr. Heidi Overton to be his new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, he announced Wednesday on Truth Social. 

Overton, a physician, is a top White House domestic policy adviser on health issues. If confirmed, she would take over an agency roiled by an exodus of top staff and viewed by many in the healthcare industry as less trustworthy and more politicized than it has been in any previous administration.

Her nomination comes about three months after the resignation of Marty Makary, Trump’s first FDA commissioner. 

“Dr. Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration,” Trump wrote. “We need her leadership at the FDA now to ensure that the U.S. remains the WORLD LEADER for Scientific Discovery and CURES.”

Overton is a major proponent of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement. Last week, she stood beside Trump when he announced an executive order to reduce and separate the childhood vaccine schedule. 

At the time, she urged blue states to follow the administration’s “gold standard” recommendations, which were widely denounced by most pediatricians, major medical groups and public health experts.  

“We are going to be working directly with states so that we’re not reliant on the court case to resolve,”........

© The Hill