What to know about Dr. Heidi Overton, Trump's pick to lead the FDA

Geoff Bennett:

President Trump has tapped one of his top White House health policy aides, Dr. Heidi Overton, to lead the Food and Drug Administration.

Overton has been a strong supporter of the president's health agenda, including efforts to overhaul the childhood vaccine schedule and separate the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine into individual shots, changes that have drawn sharp criticism from medical experts. She has also advocated tighter restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone.

Her nomination comes at a consequential moment for the FDA, as the administration challenges longstanding vaccine policy and the agency confronts broader questions about the safety of the nation's food supply, including foodborne illness outbreaks and recalls.

We're joined now by Lauren Gardner, who covers the FDA for Politico.

Thanks for being with us.

Lauren Gardner, Politico:

Thanks for having me.

Geoff Bennett:

So, based on your reporting, what stands out about Heidi Overton's background and President Trump's decision to nominate her?

Lauren Gardner:

Well, she's a doctor, which, in the kind of recent history of the past few decades of FDA commissioners, nearly all of them have been medical doctors. She's double board certified in public health and in general preventive medicine.

She also hails from Johns Hopkins. She has an advanced degree from there in clinical investigations, so much like her predecessor, Marty Makary, who was commissioner up until a few months ago, but also really notable that she is a top policy aide to the president. She's got a close working relationship with him.

She was a fellow at the White House during President Trump's first term. So she is very plugged in on all of the political constituencies that this administration is juggling right now, particularly in the public health world.

So I think it's really notable that she really has that kind of political operator background for an agency that historically has tried to really toe the line and present itself as an independent decision-maker.

Geoff Bennett:

And what more is known about her views on vaccine policy and where, if anywhere, has she departed from the scientific consensus?

Lauren Gardner:

Yes, she was present at the signing ceremony last week for the president's executive order on the childhood vaccine schedule that you mentioned advocating for essentially a more slimmed-down and spaced-out version of the current schedule.

This is not something that we have seen a lot of folks who have been kind of talked about in the FDA sphere really kind of publicly weighing in on. And she definitely spoke a little bit more about that and her vision for working with states on some of these issues last week.

And I think a lot of folks who are close watchers of the agency, whether they be lobbyists and pharma companies or just public health advocates, are also asking themselves that question and are really curious to hear what more she has to say once she ends up on Capitol Hill, assuming that Senator Bill Cassidy schedules a confirmation hearing for her this fall to hear what she has to say about some of these broader vaccine questions that have really come to the fore under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s leadership at HHS.

Geoff Bennett:

And, if confirmed, she would take over an FDA that has lost more than 3,000 employees, given the administration's cuts. And one area of particular concern is food safety.

Looking at data from the FDA and CDC, there have been about 10,500 cases of foodborne illness associated with outbreaks this year, and that is seven times higher than the annual average between 2021 and 2025. What explains that? What explains what we're seeing?

Lauren Gardner:

That's a great question.

And specifically cyclospora, the one that we're all really hearing about right now, that does annually kind of peak during summer months, which the administration has said as much. But, like you said, this is a much higher number of cases that we're seeing now compared to years past. FDA and USDA, the Department of Agriculture, obviously both play a role to some degree in overseeing the safety of the food supply.

But this isn't an area that Dr. Overton is particularly well-known for, food safety. I haven't found any record of her talking about this specific issue. But I do think, given the sheer number of cases that we're seeing and the fact that it's affected so many states and has really impacted people's eating habits and consumers' purchasing decisions in the last couple of months, I imagine it's going to be a hot topic of conversation as she continues to move through the confirmation process.

Geoff Bennett:

Are there functions the FDA is having difficulty carrying out right now because they simply don't have enough people?

Lauren Gardner:

Yes, there are some functions within the agency that have had kind of longstanding issues with either having enough folks or having enough resources really to be able to carry out -- carry out their functions, whether it be inspections of food and drug facilities or just the people who are reviewing applications for different medical products that have to be -- go through agency review to get on shelves of stores in the U.S.

There has been a lot of attrition, and this is going to be a major issue for Dr. Overton should she be confirmed as commissioner. And I'm sure this is something senators are going to want to hear a plan from her about in terms of, how do you attract people to an agency that has gone through so much turmoil in the recent past?

Geoff Bennett:

Lauren Gardner covers the FDA for Politico.

Lauren, our thanks to you. We appreciate it.

Lauren Gardner:

Thank you.