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# How Soon Will Trump Nominate Next FDA Head?
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/how-soon-will-trump-nominate-next-fda-head/
- Published: 2024-11-07T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T14:46:29.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5158147

*\[Commentary by David McFarland\]* Who will be the next FDA commissioner and what health role will **Robert F. Kennedy Jr.** play ([see earlier story](https://www.fdaweb.com/rfk-jr-says-some-fda-departments-have-to-go/)) in president-elect **Donald Trump**’s next administration? These are some of the top unanswered questions agency watchers are mulling just two days after his unprecedented comeback election.

It likely will be some time before a solid name is advanced for the agency’s top post if history repeats itself. Under Trump’s previous term in office, FDA was not high on the radar and a commissioner was not nominated until 3/2017, when **Scott Gottlieb** was tapped to lead the agency. He was confirmed by the Senate 5/2017.

Gottlieb’s nomination, however, was met with some controversy. Health advocacy group Public Citizen called for the Senate’s rejection of Gottlieb due to his industry ties. “He has spent most of his career dedicated to promoting the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry and the U.S. Senate must reject him,” the group said at the time. “Gottlieb’s ties span decades, and he currently is serving or has recently served on five pharmaceutical companies’ boards including GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world’s largest pharma companies. Between 2013 and 2015, Gottlieb received a total of at least $413,000 from multiple pharma and medical device companies, most for consulting and speaking fees.”

The revolving door at FDA for those with industry ties is large and unlikely to be closed anytime soon. The same criticism was leveled at current commissioner **Robert Califf**, who was met with Senate opposition when he was seeking confirmation in 2022\. Some lawmakers cited concern about Califf leading health strategy and policy at Alphabet, Google’s parent company, where he was paid millions in stock and more than $2.7 million in salary and bonuses. He also had to divest holdings in health care companies including Amgen, Gilead Sciences, Bristol Myers Squibb and Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Whether the next commissioner will be free of industry ties remains to be seen, but it is definitely not a deal breaker, especially since the Senate is now solidly in Republican hands that will likely ensure that most of Trump’s nominations sail through the confirmation process.

As with any new administration, speculation on who will be tapped to fill important positions is growing, and the FDA commissioner slot is no exception at this early stage. One of the early names tossed around to head the agency is **Casey Means**, according to the [*Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/31/rfk-trump-administration-health-food-safety/?ref=fdaweb.com). Means is a health-care entrepreneur who has become a close advisor to RFK Jr. Other names floated by the *Post* for top health roles in Trump’s administration include **Marty Makary**, a Johns Hopkins University physician who advised the Trump White House on health-care price transparency, and former Trump health officials such as former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director **Robert Redfield** and former HHS spokesman **Michael Caputo**.

Recently, Means and her brother, Calley — a former food and drug lobbyist — have made the rounds on conservative media, including appearances on both **Joe Rogan** and **Tucker Carlson**’s shows, *Endpoints News* [reports](https://endpts.com/biotech-industry-worries-over-potential-for-rfk-jr-ally-as-fda-pick/?ref=fdaweb.com). In interviews, in her book *Good Energy* and in her online newsletter, she has discussed a policy vision that would be a significant break from current U.S drug and vaccine policies, as well as the current approach to scientific research, the news outlet says.

At a recent health technology conference in Las Vegas, she declined to say whether she’d accept a top health agency position if nominated, according to *Endpoints News*. “My passion is to help change the tide of the American chronic disease epidemic across the lifespan, and no matter who gets into office, I will be there to help support and educate about this topic to any listening ear,” Means said at the conference.

The mentioning of Means in a major health policy role has some in industry raising their eyebrows due to her previous criticisms of industry as being interested in selling drugs than keeping patients from getting sick, according to the news outlet.

Duke University pediatrician and Tellus Therapeutics co-founder **Eric Benner** told *Endpoints News* that he could envision a scenario where Means or another RFK Jr.-aligned FDA chief might block an NDA submission based on the class of therapy, regardless of how safety studies are conducted. “It takes an unbiased FDA to be able to look at the data,” Benner said. “We can all point to vaccines as being probably highest on the list of difficult things to get approved through an RFK Jr.-appointed FDA. But that could trickle down into all kinds of different areas.”