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# Former CBER Head Marks Joins Eli Lilly
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/former-cber-head-marks-joins-eli-lilly/
- Published: 2025-10-07T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T15:23:31.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5160002

Six months after being forced to resign, former CBER director **Peter Marks** has landed at Lilly Research Laboratories to oversee molecule discovery and infectious disease programs, according to news reports. Marks’ [forced resignation](https://www.fdaweb.com/marks-firing-challenges-rfk-jr-s-fitness-for-office/) in early April marked the beginning of an upheaval at the Center that saw numerous staff leave voluntarily or be directed elsewhere by HHS under reduction-in-force efforts mandated by the White House.

In his [resignation letter](https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/c946b864e1dc08f9/05e7e4f0-full.pdf?ref=fdaweb.com), Marks wrote that he had attempted to address RFK Jr.’s concerns regarding vaccine safety and transparency but “it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.” He told *Time* in a 4/8 interview that he was seeing “an increasing anti-vaccine tone” before he left. “I was hoping to work through it, but it was very clear to me that they just didn’t want to work through it.”

At Lilly, Marks now joins former CBER Office of Therapeutic Products (OTP) deputy director **Rachael Anatol**, who was hired last month by Eli Lilly as associate VP, global regulatory policy and strategy — genetic medicine. In June, Anatol and OTP director **Nicole Verdun** were pushed out of the Center and placed on administrative leave ([see earlier story](https://www.fdaweb.com/former-cber-therapeutics-deputy-anatol-joins-lilly/)). At the time, An HHS spokesperson hinted that the move was orchestrated by CBER director **Vinay Prasad**, telling ***FDA Webview*** that “Center directors deserve to be supported by managers that are aligned with aggressive goals to expeditiously advance therapeutics for rare diseases using the gold standard of science.”

Marks received his graduate degree in cell and molecular biology and his medical degree at New York University. After working several years in the pharmaceutical industry on the clinical development of hematology and oncology products, he moved to academic medicine at Yale University where he led the Adult Leukemia Service and served as chief clinical officer of Smilow Cancer Hospital. He joined FDA in 2012 as CBER deputy director and became Center director in 2016\. He is board-certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology.