Ned Sharpless is tapped to take on acting commissioner role following Gottlieb’s resignation.
One week following the surprise resignation of FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, Norman E. (Ned) Sharpless, head of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), was named acting commissioner of FDA, according to media reports.
The announcement was confirmed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar at a congressional hearing on March 12, 2019.
Sharpless has served as the director of NCI since October 2017. He previously was director of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics.
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He cofounded clinical-stage biotechnology companies G1 Therapeutics and HealthSpan Diagnostics, according to his NCI biography.
