President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he was tapping Dr. Heidi Overton to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the health agency responsible for overseeing the safety and effectiveness of products including food, drugs, and medical devices.
Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration, where she has worked directly with Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and team, to deliver on the MOST TRANSFORMATIVE Health Agenda in History,” the President said in a Truth Social post. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr.
Mehmet Oz “to RAPIDLY deliver on my priorities of FASTER Cures, INCREASED American Innovation, MAJOR Clinical Trial Reforms, LOWER Drug Prices, and even more MAHA WINS!” If confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, Overton would take over the role previously held by Dr. Marty Makary, who stepped down from the position in May amid growing pushback from both outside of and within the White House. Overton, who has both an MD and PhD, used to be the chief policy officer at a conservative think tank called the America First Policy Institute.
She is also a board-certified physician in public health and general preventive medicine, according to her bio on the institute’s website. Overton already works in Trump’s White House, and has recently been in attendance at several events where the President has promoted his Administration’s health policies. She currently serves on the White House Domestic Policy Council, which “supervises the development, coordination, and execution of domestic policy in the White House” and “offers advice to the President and represents his priorities to Congress,” according to the White House website.
Last week, she was in the Oval Office with the President when he signed an Executive Order calling for children across the country to receive fewer immunizations—a move that was widely denounced by medical organizations and doctors. During the Oval Office signing, Trump said that concern over rising autism rates was one of the motivations behind the Executive Order. Research overwhelmingly demonstrates that vaccines are both safe and effective, and years of studies have found no link between vaccines and autism.
Read More: What Trump’s Executive Order Could Mean for Childhood Vaccines Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana—a physician who has provoked the President’s ire in part by publicly criticizing some of the Administration’s health policy changes, including Kennedy’s skepticism of vaccines—took to social media on Wednesday to share his concerns about Overton. Overton’s experience as a physician, I have strong concerns about her nomination to be FDA Commissioner,” he said on X.
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