In Search of a New FDA Commissioner

Several names are being bandied about as leading candidates for the position of FDA commissioner in the Obama adminstration. They include Duke University's Robert Califf, Cleveland Clinic's Steven Nissen, Baltimore health commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, and George Washington U. professor Susan Wood.

The Washington Post offers a nice synopsis of each, while the Raleigh News-Observer features a profile of Califf.

A darkhorse candidate for the position would have to be the controversial former Pfizer exec Peter Rost, though Rost leads Wood, Nissen, Califf and CDER's Janet Woodcock in Pharma Marketing Blog's amusing popularity poll of whom Pres-elect Obama should nominate. It could be that Rost is stuffing the ballot box--he certainly doesn't have any qualms about promoting his candidacy for the position on his own blog.

--PWT