Physician/lawyer selected to lead FDA

Abstract

David A. Kessler, a physician and a lawyer, was named last week by President Bush as Commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration. Kessler, 39, medical director of the Hospital of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, says he looks forward to the challenges ahead. Kessler also teaches food and drug law at Columbia University's law school, and has written extensively on FDA issues. From 1981 to 1984, he was consultant to Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R.-Utah), who was then chairman of the Labor & Human Resources Committee. Hatch, in fact, brought Kessler's name to Bush's attention. The Senator believes Kessler will bring the needed thrust to get FDA going in the direction needed. Perhaps most relevant to Kessler's selection as FDA Commissioner is his active service on the Department of Health & Human Services' Advisory Commission on FDA. This has especially impressed members of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, ...