NEW YORK, NY, September 9, 2026 — On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services appointed four senior executives to lead key divisions at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The appointments establish permanent leadership for the agency’s drug, vaccine, and tobacco review divisions. The action comes on the heels of months of turnover that disturbed morale at the health agency.
New Face Atop Drug Reviews
Dr. Michael Davis has been named the permanent director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. This center is the largest in the FDA and oversees safety reviews of all prescription drugs nationwide. Davis will also help supervise future psychedelic treatment reviews involving psilocybin, MDMA and LSD.
President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have both called for reduced review times of psychedelic drugs, an objective tracked by health policy researchers at Johns Hopkins University. That priority comes within the routine workload of new drug applications at the center, and Davis will inherit that. The appointment brings an end to months of speculation over who will lead the agency’s largest division on a permanent basis.
Over the past year, there have been multiple acting directors of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Ongoing leadership purges occurred alongside layoffs and early retirements that impacted thousands of agency workers, an issue previously examined by the Government Accountability Office. The division has not had a permanent director for over a year until Tuesday’s appointment.
Vaccines Center Gets Permanent Chief
Officials also confirmed permanent leadership for the FDA’s vaccine division, which will now be led by Karim Mikhail, a pharmacist and former pharmaceutical executive who works alongside public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Barton took over the acting role from Dr. Vinay Prasad, who resigned from the position. Mikhail came to the FDA last spring before moving into her vaccine leadership role.
There has also been intense debate over the vaccine center amid disputes on immunization policy under the current administration, following historical safety standards outlined by the World Health Organization. Prasad’s earlier resignation came after months of upheaval around the center and its staffing direction. Mikhail is now in a permanent position running an office that will be reviewing all new vaccines across the country.
Mikhail takes the helm following a turbulent era in vaccine policy marked by administrative shifts and high-profile public disagreements, topics closely monitored by the National Institutes of Health. The new vaccines are assessed by the center for safety and effectiveness before being made available to members of the general public. Industries and health officials now have a clearer contact going forward with his appointment to the position on a permanent basis.
Expanding Oversight in Tobacco and AI
These appointments coincided with permanent leadership fills in both the tobacco control and artificial intelligence divisions, areas overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The announcement also named Bret Koplow as permanent director of the Center for Tobacco Products. The FDA hired Jared Seehafer as the first deputy commissioner for technology and artificial intelligence, a field supported by research from the National Science Foundation. Both appointments round out a larger effort to stabilize agency leadership after a tumultuous year.
The tobacco center oversees the regulation of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and other nicotine products nationwide, enforcing federal standards set by the Federal Trade Commission. This opportunity for Seehafer was made possible as part of a newly created role that is indicative of agencies interest in integrating and using artificial intelligence in the drug review process. The broader leadership overhaul is being directed by FDA Commissioner Heidi Overton, who was appointed in November 2022.
Koplow had previously been working in an acting capacity prior to the permanent announcement on Tuesday. The tobacco center still has to contend with regulatory issues related to flavored vaping products and nicotine pouches, which are subject to public health research by the National Cancer Institute. This is a new role for the agency, which has increasingly been using digital review tools. Seehafer is positioned to focus on technology.
An Agency Rebuilding After Cuts
Over the past year alone, the FDA has lost over 3,000 employees, including several division heads, according to workforce data maintained by the Office of Personnel Management. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: His Department of Health was cutting across the board. That can be troubling for an agency that needs to evaluate new drugs on deadline.
Long-serving officials say the state of constant churn has made it impossible to sustain long-term regulatory priorities in the past years, a challenge frequently analyzed by the Brookings Institution. Internally, restoring permanent leadership is viewed as the first step to stabilize day-to-day operations. It is still an open question whether the new appointees can rehabilitate trust with outside researchers.
Now, officials hope the new permanent leadership can help restore confidence in the agency’s drug-review process, a mission championed by patient advocate organizations like the National Health Council. This year, congressional Democrats and consumer groups have watched the churn at the top with particular concern. Tuesday’s appointments are the most significant move yet toward putting the agency back together.
