It’s who replaces who season in Washington D.C. It happens whenever one party beats the other in presidential elections. Food safety advocates are watching these changes with rapt attention. The added change this time is that the incoming administration has an apparent common agenda known as “Make America Healthy Again.”
That agenda is about doing something about America’s Chronic Disease Epidemic, especially involving children.
The agenda is the work of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who the president-elect nominated to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. If confirmed, he will replace California lawyer Xavier Becerra,
HHS houses units that are important to food safety. The president-elect has named John Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary as the next Food and Drug Administrator. Makary will take over for Dr. Robert Califf.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, former Florida Congressman Dave Weldon will replace Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH. Weldon is an Army veteran and medical doctor who has been in the position for 40 years.
Weldon worked on fiscal and social issues while in Congress, serving on the Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, with focusing on accountability on HHS and CDC policy and budgeting,
President Trump picked a former Governor of a large agricultural state for his first term. His pick, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Purdue, was seen by many as not much different from former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, whom Purdue replaced.
But to replace Vilsack this time, the president-elect nominated Brooke Rollins, who heads a think tank in Austin, TX. She has not been a governor like so many Secretaries of Agriculture, but she is the co-founder and president of the American First Policy Institute.
She grew up on a farm and was active in 4H and Future Farmers of America. Rollins earned a degree in agriculture developlment from Texas A&M University before becoming a lawyer.
Changes are occurring even below these presidential appointments. The USDA is announcing a new boss at the Food Safety and Inspection Service. (FSIS)
Dr. Denise Eblen, currently the FSIS Assistant Administrator for the Office of Public Health Science, has been named agency administrator, the top job.
As Assistant Administrator for the Office of Public Health Science since 2018, Dr. Eblen has led the agency’s scientific analysis, including oversight of FSIS laboratories and testing of regulatory samples, risk assessment, and outbreak investigation and response. Drawing from her 25 years of experience at USDA, she will continue to steer FSIS’s efforts to use science-based decision-making to modernize the agency’s inspection strategies, policies, and approaches to improve public health. In addition to her work with FSIS, Dr. Eblen has held roles with USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service.
Paul Kiecker will become the assistant administrator in the Office of Investigation, Enforcement, and Audit. In this role, he will apply his deep experience with the agency and his leadership capabilities to head FSIS’s investigation, enforcement, and audit functions.
Mr. Kiecker has served FSIS for more than thirty years, beginning as a food inspector in 1988 and most recently serving as administrator. His previous roles included experience across the Office of Field Operations as a Compliance Investigator and Supervisory Compliance Investigator with the Office of Investigation, Enforcement, and Audit. Kiecker has advanced the agency’s workforce recruitment effort and engagement with FSIS’ large team of field employees, among other key priorities.
“Each of these leaders brings a wealth of experience with FSIS, expertise in different aspects of the agency’s mission, and a personal commitment to protecting public health by ensuring a safe food supply,” said Dr. Emilio Esteban, USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety. “I am honored to work alongside them, and I look forward to seeing the path they will chart to advance food safety in the days and years to come.”
These leadership changes will take effect Dec. 9, 2024.
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