Rob Califf Named to Fill FDA Commissioner Post

A White House press statement reports that President Barack Obama intends to nominate Rob Califf as commissioner of Food and Drugs, Department of Health and Human Services.

Rob Califf currently is deputy commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco at FDA, a position he has held since March 2015. He served in various capacities at Duke University School of Medicine and the Duke University Medical Center between 1982 and 2015 including director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute, which he founded in 2006, and as professor of medicine at the medical center.  He also served as the director of the cardiac care unit. He founded the Duke University Clinical Research Institute in 2006 and served as its director. 

He has served in a number professional organizations, including committees of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IOM), the IOM Clinical Research Roundtable, the IOM Committee on Medication Errors, and the IOM Board on Health Sciences Policy.  He served on the FDA’s cardio renal advisory committee from 1996 to 2000 and on the FDA’s Science Board Working Group from 2007 to 2008. Califf holds a bachelor of science and doctor of medicine degrees from Duke University.  

Stephen Ostroff, MD, has served as acting commissioner of FDA since former FDA commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg stepped down earlier this year following six years in the position.

Source: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary