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A Note from Ellen Sigal and Marlene Malek
We, at Friends of Cancer Research, congratulate Barack Obama on his historic election, and hope that his past dedication to research funding as a U.S. Senator continues as President of the United States.
These are trying times for our country, but amidst economic turmoil, funding for life-saving research cannot be overlooked.
President-elect Obama will have to make some very important appointments over the next months. Many of these appointments will directly impact research, innovation and treatment of cancer. Of these many critical appointments a significant decision for the new administration will be who will lead the NIH, NCI and FDA.
It is important that those chosen to lead these agencies understand the critical need to have well funded and expertly staffed NIH, NCI and FDA, and that it directly impacts patients lives.
It is vital that the next FDA commissioner exhibit a strong understanding of science, clinical research, industry and public health. He or she needs to balance the policy makers demand for safety while assuring that the pipeline continues to produce life-saving treatments and therapies. He or she needs to be someone who can assure the public of safety without handicapping the drive to bring new medicines to fruition.
The new commissioner needs to have the integrity and skill to work with Congress. Whoever is selected for this challenging position needs to be an outstanding leader, an incredible visionary and exceptional communicator.
We eagerly await President-elect Obama's appointments to NIH, NCI and FDA, and look forward to working with them to ensure that our country continues its leadership in scientific research and innovation across the world, bringing hope to patients and their families battling this horrible disease.
Sincerely,
Ellen V. Sigal Marlene A. Malek
Chair and Founder President
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Possible Candidates for FDA Commissioner
The following is a list of possible candiates for FDA Commissioner which have been mentioned in a variety of major news and trade publications (not all together ) since Tuesday November 4th.
*Note that there has been no official comment on this position from the Obama transition team, and Friends of Cancer Research has not endorsed any one of these, or any other candidate for the post*
- Steven Nissen, MD (Chair Dept. of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic)
- Mike Taylor, JD (Fmr. Deputy FDA Commissioner - Clinton)
- Robert Califf, MD (Professor of Cardiology and Vice Chancellor of Clinical Research - Duke University)
- Mary Pendergast, JD (Fmr. Deputy Comm. and Senior Advisor to the FDA Commisioner - Clinton)
- Janet Woodcock, MD (Head of FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research)
- Bruce Psaty, MD, PhD (A drug safety expert at the University of Washington)
- David Blumenthal, MD, MPP (Director, Institute for Health Policy at Mass. General & Prof. at Harvard Medical School)
- Susan Wood, PhD (Fmr. Director of FDA Office of Women's Health)
- Joshua Sharfstein, MD, MPH (Commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department)
- Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD (NIH Chair of Dept. of Bioethicist, and Breast Oncologist)
- Jerry Avorn, MD (Prof. of Medicine Harvard Med. School and Chief of Pharmacoepidemiology)
- Dora Hughes, MD, MPH (Obama Senate Health Advisor- Transition Team Member)
- Raymond Woosley, MD, PhD (President & CEO, The Critical Path Institute)
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Rep. Waxman to Serve as Chair of Energy & Commerce
On Thursday November 20, Rep. Henry Waxman unseated Rep. John Dingell as chairman of the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The committee will be one of the key components for any large scale health-care reform bills. It is also a significant committee in Congress in relation to the drug and device industry.
House Democrats voted 137 to 122 in favor of Waxman.
Waxman, in past statements, has mentioned Energy and Commerce's health-care and energy and climate change powers as part of the reason he sought the chairmanship.
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Daschle Likely to Head Health and Human Services
Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle will likely be named as Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Originally published in February of 2008, Daschle's Book, What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis, outlines, in detail, how he would reform the US health care system:
- Senator Daschle's basic idea: Create a board modeled on the Federal Reserve to "offer a public framework within which a private health-care system can operate more effectively and efficiently - insulated from political pressure yet accountable to elected officials and the American people." The Board would assess the effectiveness and costs of various treatments.
- Sen. Daschle says Medicare should pay more for care that leads to good outcomes, and should stop paying for unnecessary or harmful treatments.
- Like Obama, he says Americans who want to keep their employer-based insurance should be allowed to do so, but people should also be able to buy insurance from the pool that covers federal employees, or from a new pool based on a similar model.
- He also states in the book that all Americans should be required to buy health insurance - a key difference from Obama, who argues that only children should be required to have health insurance.
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Obama Transition Team
Department of Health and Human Services Leads
The following individuals were named by the Obama-Biden Transition Team to lead the transition, along with Sen. Daschle, for the Department of Health and Human Services:
- Tom Perez (Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation)
- Roberta Achtenberg (Director, Bank of San Francisco.)
- Xavier de Souza Briggs (Associate Professor MIT Dept of Urban Studies and Planning)
- Anthony Brown (Lt. Governor, MD)
- Bill Corr (Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids)
- Susan Daniels (Fmr. Deputy Commissioner at the Social Security Administration)
- Pamela Gilbert (Fmr. Executive Director of the Consumer Product Safety Commission)
- W. Scott Gould (Fmr. Assistant Sec. of Treasury & Fmr. Assistant Sec. of Commerce)
- Bruce Katz (VP & Director, Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program)
- Nicole Lurie (Director Center for Population Health and Health Disparities RAND)
- Jonathan D. Moreno (Professor Medical Ethics, and History Univ. of Pennsylvania)
- Jim Roosevelt (President and CEO for the Tufts Health Plan)
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