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# Biden Meets with Potential FDA Head Califf
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/biden-meets-with-potential-fda-head-califf/
- Published: 2021-10-22T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T17:19:55.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5150429

Former Obama Administration FDA commissioner and current frontrunner for the nomination **Robert Califf** seemed on the brink of being announced as President Biden’s choice 2/22 when he visited the White House. According to a *Politico* [report](https://news.yahoo.com/biden-meets-top-fda-candidate-205453239.html?ref=fdaweb.com), the White House has spent the last few weeks vetting Califf, who served as commissioner for less than a year at the end of the Obama administration. Under federal law Biden faces a mid-November deadline to either nominate acting commissioner **Janet Woodcock** or name someone else to the position.

Califf, a cardiology professor at Duke University School of Medicine, had been confirmed on an 89-4 vote in 2/2016\. Some senators had criticized his appointment because of his ties to drug companies that helped fund his research at Duke.

During his professional career, Califf led major initiatives aimed at improving methods and infrastructure for clinical research, including the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative, a public-private partnership co-founded by FDA and Duke. As commissioner, he helped advance then-vice president Biden’s [National Cancer Moonshot Initiative](http://connect.ons.org/article-tags/moonshot?ref=fdaweb.com). He directed creation of FDA’s [Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE)](http://connect.ons.org/columns/capitol-connection/ons-others-call-for-oncology-center-of-excellence-biden-announces-moonshot-database-ons-comments-on-macra-ehr-sharing?ref=fdaweb.com) and subsequently named CDER lead cancer official **Richard Pazdur** as OCE’s new head.

Responding to Califf’s possible nomination, Public Citizen Health Research Group director **Michael Carome** earlier this month signaled opposition to Califf. “The country desperately needs an FDA leader who will reverse the decades-long trend in which the agency’s relationship with the pharmaceutical and medical device industries has grown dangerously cozier, resulting in regulatory capture of the agency by industry,” Carome said in a [statement](https://www.citizen.org/news/biden-floats-recycled-fda-commissioner-pick-who-is-too-closely-aligned-with-big-pharma/?ref=fdaweb.com). “Califf would not be that leader.”

Carome said Califf has a long history of extensive financial ties to Big Pharma, most significantly through pharmaceutical industry funding to the Duke Clinical Research Institute, which he founded in 1996\. He also said that Califf received personal payments from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Sanofi-Aventis both before and after his previous term as commissioner.