By Steven Grossman, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.

What started as a crisis over the safety and supply of infant formula became a wide-ranging review of FDA’s food programs by the Reagan-Udall Foundation. In turn, those led to the creation of a new post, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, and the publication of a sweeping reorganization plan published on Dec. 13, 2023 (proposed changes and updates).

To learn more about the re-organization plan and its impact on food and nutrition programs, you are invited to a webinar on January 19 from 11:00 a.m. to noon. Register here.

Reflecting the importance of the reorganization plan — and the benefit to FDA of discussing the plan with stakeholders — the agency is providing the Alliance for a Stronger FDA with an all-star set of speakers.  

Presentations by:  

• Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock
• Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones
• Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs Michael Rogers 
• Chief Scientist Namandje Bumpus (who will become Principal Deputy Commissioner in February)

Available to assist with questions will be Acting CFSAN Director Don Prater and Deputy Commissioner for Operations/COO Jim Sigg. 

The co-moderators on behalf of the Alliance will be: 

• Alliance Board member Sarah Sorscher of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and 
• John Taylor, former Acting Deputy Commissioner for Global Regulatory Operations and Policy and member of the Reagan-Udall Foundation review panel. 

The Alliance for a Stronger FDA is a multi-stakeholder coalition that advocates for increased FDA resources. We have played a key role in the doubling of FDA’s taxpayer funding.

Our other goal is to educate policymakers, media, and stakeholders about FDA’s growing mission and increased responsibilities. As part of that effort, we ran 18 webinars in 2023, all featuring senior FDA leadership. Transcripts of our webinars can be found here: www.strengthenfda.org/events.

Other Alliance webinars that are coming up soon: 

• Dr. Robert Califf, FDA Commissioner, Jan. 31 at 2:00 p.m. EST. Register here.
• Kimberlee Trzeciak, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Legislation, and International Affairs, Febr. 8 at 3 p.m. Register here

 Our webinars are free — all you have to do is register.  For more information, contact Steven Grossman at sgrossman@strengthenfda.org or Ben Dash at bdash@ofwlaw.com