By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate health committee will hold a confirmation hearing next week for Dr. Heidi Overton, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the embattled Food and Drug Administration, the panel said on Thursday.
The hearing will take place on September 24, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee said in a statement. Trump nominated Overton, a White House policy aide, in August, turning to an “America First” ally to steady an agency shaken by staff losses, low morale and fights over vaccines, the abortion pill and drug approvals.
If the Senate confirms her, Overton will take over an FDA that has lost more than 3,000 staff over the past year, including division heads, and is under pressure to rebuild confidence among industry and public-health groups.
The agency, which is responsible for regulating and approving all drugs, treatments and vaccines, has faced concerns it has become too political.
Trump’s previous FDA commissioner, Marty Makary, resigned in May after 13 months in the job following clashes with White House officials over flavored vapes, a stalled abortion-pill safety study and public disagreements with drugmakers such as Replimune, Sarepta and Moderna over reviews of potentially lifesaving medicines and vaccines.
Overton, a preventive medicine physician by training who serves as deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, previously worked at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.
Her nomination coincides with new efforts by Trump health officials to take action on a number of controversial issues, including autism and vaccines as well as the abortion pill.
She spoke at a White House event last month at which Trump signed a new executive order calling for significantly cutting back the national childhood vaccination schedule and splitting the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate shots, a move physicians and vaccine makers swiftly rejected.
The administration is tackling a backlog of health vacancies across government. The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month, and Senate panels have held confirmation hearings this week for other vacant top posts including deputy health secretary and surgeon general.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Nia Williams)
