By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
The leader of Duke University’s work at the N.C. Research Campus will not become the next commissioner of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
Dr. Rob Califf apparently took his name out of consideration a few weeks ago, according to a former FDA associate commissioner familiar with the process.
Dr. Peter Pitts, now president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, said he doesn’t know why Califf pulled out. Califf, who was a finalist for the federal post, could not be reached for comment.
Califf authored the long-term medical research study based in Kannapolis and named for Research Campus founder David Murdock.
The Washington Post reported today that the Obama administration has tapped Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, a physician and former New York City health commissioner with an interest in bioterrorism, to run the struggling FDA.
Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore’s health commissioner, is expected to serve as Hamburg’s chief deputy.
Both Hamburg and Sharfstein are considered Washington outsiders, while Califf is an expert in drug safety issues and has worked closely with the FDA in the past.
Pitts said he supports the administration’s choice but added, “Rob would have made an excellent commissioner.”
The combination of Hamburg and Sharfstein could mean the Obama administration is interested in splitting the FDA into two groups, one that oversees food and another that governs the approval of drugs and medical devices.
Watchdog groups and some in Congress have called for a restructuring of the embattled agency, which has been plagued by a series of controversies including a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 700 people and killed nine.
Califf, a cardiologist, is the principal investigator for the MURDOCK Study, which stands for Measurement to Understand Reclassification of Disease of Cabarrus/Kannapolis and aims to help people with chronic disease.
Scientists for the study will use new genomic technologies at the Research Campus to identify patterns across large groups of patients with illnesses like arthritis and diabetes. Eventually, scientists hope to discover new ways to diagnose and treat disease.