Commissioner of Food and Drugs

The United States commissioner of food and drugs is the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The commissioner is appointed by the president of the United States and must be confirmed by the Senate. The commissioner reports to the secretary of health and human services.

United States Commissioner of Food and Drugs
Incumbent Marty Makary since April 1, 2025
Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration
Reports to	Secretary of Health and Human Services
Term length	No fixed term

Due to frequent controversies involving the FDA, appointments are not always prompt and the agency is often headed by an acting commissioner. For example, Andrew von Eschenbach's appointment was held up by senators who objected to the FDA's refusal to allow emergency contraception to be sold over the counter.

The commissioner has frequently been a physician, but this is not a requirement for the post. Commissioners rarely come from a food-related background.^[1]

List of commissioners

The following persons served as Commissioner of Food and Drugs Administration:^[2][3]

Unnumbered, colored rows indicate acting commissioners.^[3]

No.	Name (birth–death)	Portrait	Term of office		Refs.	Appointed by (term)
			Start of term	End of term
1	Harvey Washington Wiley		January 1, 1907	March 15, 1912	[4]	Theodore Roosevelt
2	Carl L. Alsberg		December 16, 1912	July 15, 1921	[5]	William Howard Taft
3	Walter G. Campbell		July 16, 1921	June 30, 1924	[6]	Warren G. Harding
4	Charles Albert Browne Jr.		July 1, 1924	June 30, 1927	[7]	Calvin Coolidge
5[a]	Walter G. Campbell		July 1, 1927	April 30, 1944	[6]	Calvin Coolidge
6	Paul B. Dunbar		May 6, 1944	May 31, 1951	[8]	Franklin D. Roosevelt
7	Charles W. Crawford		June 1, 1951	July 31, 1954	[9]	Harry S. Truman
8	George P. Larrick		August 12, 1954	December 27, 1965	[10]	Dwight D. Eisenhower
9	James L. Goddard		January 17, 1966	July 1, 1968	[11]	Lyndon B. Johnson
10	Herbert L. Ley Jr.		July 1, 1968	December 12, 1969	[12]	Lyndon B. Johnson
11	Charles C. Edwards		December 13, 1969	March 15, 1973	[13]	Richard Nixon
12	Alexander M. Schmidt		July 20, 1973	November 30, 1976	[14]	Richard Nixon
13	Donald Kennedy		April 4, 1977	June 30, 1979	[15]	Jimmy Carter
14	Jere E. Goyan		October 21, 1979	January 20, 1981	[16]	Jimmy Carter
15	Arthur H. Hayes Jr.		April 13, 1981	September 11, 1983	[17]	Ronald Reagan
16	Frank E. Young		July 15, 1984	December 17, 1989	[18]	Ronald Reagan
17	David A. Kessler		November 8, 1990	February 28, 1997	[19]	George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton
18	Jane E. Henney		January 17, 1999	January 19, 2001	[20]	Bill Clinton
19	Mark McClellan		November 14, 2002	March 26, 2004	[21]	George W. Bush
20	Lester Crawford		July 18, 2005	September 23, 2005	[22]	George W. Bush
21	Andrew von Eschenbach		December 13, 2006	January 20, 2009	[23]	George W. Bush
–	Frank M. Torti		January 20, 2009	March 29, 2009	[24]
–	Joshua M. Sharfstein		March 30, 2009	May 21, 2009	[25]
22	Margaret Hamburg		May 22, 2009	April 1, 2015	[26]	Barack Obama
–	Stephen Ostroff		April 1, 2015	February 22, 2016	[27][28]	Barack Obama
23	Robert Califf		February 22, 2016	January 20, 2017	[29]	Barack Obama
–	Stephen Ostroff		January 20, 2017	May 11, 2017	[27][28]	Donald Trump
24	Scott Gottlieb		May 11, 2017	April 5, 2019	[30]	Donald Trump
–	Norman Sharpless		April 5, 2019	November 1, 2019	[31]	Donald Trump
–	Admiral Brett Giroir		November 6, 2019	December 17, 2019	[32][33]	Donald Trump
25	Stephen Hahn		December 17, 2019	January 20, 2021	[34]	Donald Trump
–	Janet Woodcock		January 20, 2021	February 17, 2022	[35][36]	Joe Biden
26[b]	Robert Califf		February 17, 2022	January 20, 2025	[29][37]	Joe Biden
–	Sara Brenner		January 24, 2025	April 1, 2025	[38][39]	Donald Trump
27	Marty Makary		April 1, 2025	Incumbent	[40][41]	Donald Trump

Table notes:

1. Campbell had previously served as Commissioner
2. Califf had previously served as Commissioner

See also

• Regulation of therapeutic goods