Biden’s Healthcare Team Almost Complete, but Still No Nominee to Lead FDA

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure’s confirmation to lead CMS would have officially filled up Senate-confirmed federal posts at HHS- except the FDA’s top position doesn’t even have a nominee yet.

At the end of May, by a vote of 55-44, the Senate confirmed Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to be the head administrator at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which is a subagency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Brooks-LaSure is the first black woman to lead the CMS, and the third consecutive female to assume the post in a non-acting capacity. Before working at a law firm from 2016 to 2020, she had a leadership position at CMS during the Obama administration.

In March, both Xavier Becerra and Dr. Rachel Levine received congressional confirmation for other key roles. Becerra, now the Secretary of the HHS, is a former California Attorney General. The new Assistant HHS Secretary, Dr. Levine, is the first openly transgender person to obtain the Senate’s confirmation for any federal post. With Brooks-LaSure’s confirmation, it would have rounded out the Biden Administration’s health care team. However, there hasn’t even been a nomination for a key leader of another HHS agency- the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Some political experts have speculated that the acting FDA director, Janet Woodcock, has been “trying out” to assume the position in an official compacity. This is not unfamiliar territory for Woodcock. She took over as acting director for the Center of Drug Evaluation and Research in October of 2007. Six months later, she earned the spot officially and didn’t leave her post until January of this year, when she was tapped to be the acting director of the FDA. Critics of Woodcock have noted she may have potential conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical industry- a point highlighted through recent controversy over accelerated approval for the Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab. It remains to be seen if these circumstances are enough to prevent either her receiving Senate confirmation, or the White House nomination altogether.

Until Next Time,

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Biden’s Healthcare Team