Trump chooses Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon, to head the FDA

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday nominated Dr. Marty Makary, a pancreatic surgeon at Johns Hopkins University who has made controversial claims about Covid, as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Makary is chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins, according to the university’s website. He also served in leadership positions at the World Health Organization Patient Safety Program and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, which is part of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. He has also served as a public consultationer to the Paragon Health Institute, a conservative health care think tank, and appears regularly on Fox News.

“The FDA has lost the trust of the American people and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator. The agency needs Dr. Marty Makary, a highly respected Johns Hopkins surgical oncologist and health policy expert, to course correct and refocus the agency,” Trump said on Truth Social.

“He will work under the direction of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, evaluate harmful chemicals that are poisoning our nation’s food supply, and drugs and biologics that are given to our nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the chronic childhood disease Epidemic,” Trump said.

The position requires Senate confirmation. As FDA commissioner, Makary would be responsible for regulating and overseeing drugs, foods, medical devices and other products, such as tobacco and cosmetics.

Makary has previously made some controversial statements, esp about the pandemic. He said the federal government was the “biggest perpetrator” of misinformation during the pandemic.

He was one advocate for natural immunityand said it was “at least” as effective or even better than immunity provided by vaccines, ignoring the risk of infections. He also argued for the nation would reach herd immunity in April 2021.

He has claimed that myocarditis, a rare heart disease, is more common after Covid vaccination than after a Covid infection, a claim that has been refuted by several studies.

In 2023 he also wrote one islandp-edi Wall Street Journal criticizes the Biden administration’s decision to recommend Covid boosters for younger, lower-risk patients. The idea that young, healthy people do not need additional Covid vaccines is now more widely accepted in the medical community.

If nominated and confirmed, Makary would potentially work under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Trump has chosen to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. The FDA is one of 13 agencies that fall under the purview of HHS.

The election of Kennedy was heavily criticized by the medical and scientific community due to his controversial views when it comes to public health, including anti-vaccine activism.

Appearing Sunday on Fox News, Makary defended Kennedy, saying he’s the least “scary” thing happening in the American health care system and people shouldn’t “dissect” things Kennedy said “30 years ago.”

“He wants to address corruption in health care and corruption in our public health agencies,” Makary said. “A lot of people don’t like that message and a lot of people are threatened by it.”

Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said Makary is not suited for the role of FDA commissioner given his past comments on Covid and the defense of Kennedy.

“He is willing to lie to the American public,” Offit said. “Why do we think it’s someone who should run the FDA?”

The current FDA Commissioner is Dr. Robert Califf, a cardiologist who also held the role during President Barack Obama’s second term.

Trump had two FDA commissioners in his first term: Dr. Scott Gottlieb and oncologist Dr. Stephen Hahn.