Trump taps Heidi Overton to head FDA amid staffing exodus, source says

U.S. President Donald Trump has selected Heidi Overton, a White House health policy aide, to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to a source familiar with the matter. The nomination, which requires Senate confirmation, comes months after the agency's previous commissioner, Marty Makary, resigned.

Overton, a surgeon by training, currently serves as deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She previously worked at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank. She earned her medical degree from the University of New Mexico and trained in general surgery at Johns Hopkins University, with further research training at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Last week, Overton appeared at a White House event where Trump announced an executive order aimed at reducing the childhood vaccine schedule and splitting the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate shots. Experts have noted that such a split could take years for drug developers to achieve.

According to earlier Reuters reports, Overton was among three finalists for the FDA position, including oncologist Jeffrey Vacirca and Pentagon health official Stephen Ferrara.

The FDA is responsible for regulating food, drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, and tobacco products, overseeing items that account for a significant share of U.S. consumer spending. The commissioner plays a central role in decisions on drug approvals, vaccine authorisations, and food safety. The position has become increasingly contentious as political debates have intensified over vaccine policy and drug pricing.

The FDA has been managed by acting commissioner Kyle Diamantas since May, when Makary stepped down 13 months into the job after clashing with top White House and health advisers and facing scrutiny over a series of controversial agency decisions. Makary drew criticism for his handling of flavoured vapes re-entering the U.S. market, a stalled review of abortion pills, and public disagreements with drugmakers such as Replimune, Sarepta, and Moderna over reviews of potentially life-saving medicines and vaccines.

Since Diamantas took over, the FDA has reversed course or reopened regulatory pathways for rare-disease therapies from companies including Regenxbio, uniQure, and Replimune. It has also launched measures aimed at speeding up drug research by pairing sponsors with qualified research institutions to shorten the time from drug identification to first-in-human studies.

The agency has lost more than 3,000 staff members, including division heads, over the past year. If confirmed, Overton will face the challenge of rebuilding confidence among industry and public health groups, many of which have expressed concerns that the regulator has become too political.

At the time of writing, the White House, the FDA, and Overton had not responded to requests for comment.