FDA's Top Science Official to Step Down

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lost yet another of its top personnel, agency officials confirmed today.

The departure of Jesse Goodman, FDA's Chief Scientist, is the latest in a steady drumbeat of high-profile departures from the agency in recent months. Other major departures have included John Taylor, Virginia Cox, Jay Crowley and Deborah Autor.

Like the others departing the agency, Goodman has been a longtime employee of FDA, having arrived at the agency in 1998 as a Senior Medical Advisor to the commissioner, and later as Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER).

Goodman was also the guiding force behind FDA's Medical Countermeasures Initiative (MCMi). "[Goodman] has better positioned FDA to play a strong role in building the nation's emergency medical counter measures capacity," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg wrote in an email to staff on 9 January 2014. .

Goodman will reportedly direct a new Center on Medical Product Access, Safety and Stewardship at Georgetown University, meaning that he will likely remain active in regulatory circles.

Stepping in on an interim basis will be Stephen Ostroff, who now serves as Chief Medical Officer within the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and Senior Public Health Advisor to the Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine.