Trump’s nominee to lead FDA expected to face questions on vaccines, abortion in Senate hearing

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Dr. Heidi Overton, President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the US Food and Drug Administration, is facing questioning from a key Senate committee on Thursday.

Before her nomination, Overton has had a powerful but largely behind-the-scenes role in the second Trump administration, serving as deputy assistant for domestic policy, where she oversaw health initiatives for the White House. Thursday’s hearing will be one of the first opportunities for Americans to hear directly from her, and she will probably face tough questions on her support for vaccines as well as access to medication abortion and agency reform.

The last FDA commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, resigned in May amid intense pressure from the White House. Kyle Diamantas, the acting commissioner who had been the agency’s deputy commissioner for food, repeatedly turned down the position, even when asked directly by Trump, a senior administration official with knowledge of the process previously told CNN.

What we know about Trump’s expected pick to lead FDA

The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pension’s Committee will put Overton in the hot seat shortly after considering whether to advance Dr. Nicole Saphier’s nomination for surgeon general to the full Senate. The administration had struggled to find a candidate for surgeon general whom Congress would support. Saphier, a radiologist who was a regular Fox News commentator and podcast host before her nomination to be America’s top doctor, is Trump’s third pick for the position.

Like Saphier, Overton is a physician. She graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and was a surgical resident at Johns Hopkins University, according to her LinkedIn profile. She’s board-certified in public health and general preventive medicine, according to the American Board of Medical Specialties. At age 37, she would be one of the youngest people ever to lead the FDA.

She also has experience as a patient. She recently told representatives from Breakthrough T1D that she lives with type 1 or juvenile diabetes, an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks its own insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. A number of promising cell therapies are in development to treat and potentially even reverse the condition, but progress in the field has been hampered in recent years by a backlog of cell and gene therapies at the FDA. As head of the agency, Overton would be in a position to streamline the process for biotech companies working on new therapies.

An op-ed published in Stat by two former FDA commissioners called her “the right pick in a difficult moment,” saying “Overton has hard work to do but has demonstrated the capacity to be that leader. She knows the challenges she’ll face and what it will take to secure the promise of better public health.

She would be in charge of a behemoth of an agency. The FDA has about 16,000 staffers and a roughly $7 billion annual budget. FDA regulated products account for about 20 cents of every dollar spent by consumers. The FDA has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s reduction-in-force cuts, losing more than 4,600 workers since 2024, according to Office of Personnel Management data.

Despite her close ties to the White House, she isn’t a shoo-in for the role. HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, a doctor and a Republican from Louisiana, has said he was concerned about her limited experience.

“While I respect Dr. Overton’s experience as a physician, I have strong concerns about her nomination to be FDA Commissioner. Her lack of managerial experience does not prepare her well for leading a large organization that is already dealing with staffing and morale issues,” Cassidy posted on social media .

Trump says some routine immunizations will be split into five separate shots. Vaccine experts say it won’t work

Cassidy also decried Overton’s participation in Trump’s recent “nonsensical” executive order on vaccines, which included a call to split the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into separate shots given at separate medical appointments. Overton stood behind the president as he introduced the order and spoke afterward, explaining legal measures that were designed to force states to adopt the administration’s policies. Her participation, Cassidy said, calls into question her commitment to stand up for sound science and children’s health. “That alone is almost disqualifying,” he wrote.

Others went even further. Dr. Peter Lurie, a former FDA official who is now president of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, said Overton’s alignment with the president’s plans to scale back vaccinations for children and split some vaccines into separate shots should be “fully disqualifying.”

Lurie also voiced concerns about Overton’s lack of experience.

“The Food and Drug Administration has shed thousands of employees, including food safety inspectors, and is struggling to keep up with food recalls and outbreaks of foodborne illness. Despite efforts to frantically re-staff, this is an agency in crisis. This is no time for a commissioner who needs on-the-job training,” he said in a statement .

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Trump administration rushes to steady Kennedy’s HHS, with an eye on the midterms

Although some may be skeptical of her qualifications, Overton clearly has the president’s support.

“Dr. Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration, where she has worked directly with Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and team, to deliver on the MOST TRANSFORMATIVE Health Agenda in History. She is known to take on the HARDEST issues, and bring me solutions that work best for the Country… She is SMART and RESPECTED by all!” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing her nomination last month.

Overton joined Trump’s first administration as a White House fellow on the Domestic Policy Council during the Covid-19 pandemic. She later finished her Ph.D. in clinical investigation at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She was chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank; other institute staff who have been hired into high-level posts in the second Trump administration include Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

As FDA commissioner, Overton would be in charge of the nation’s drug policy, including the agency’s approval of mifepristone, one of two medications taken to induce abortions, which is currently the subject of ongoing litigation .

One of the stated goals of Project 2025, a document created by the conservative Heritage Foundation that has become the basis of many of the Trump administration’s policies during his second term, is to more tightly restrict access to mifepristone or to revoke FDA approval for the drug altogether.

While at the American First Policy Institute, Overton cheered the US Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, calling it a “huge victory for life.” She’s also the author of policy brief that called medication abortions “dangerous to women,” despite decades of evidence showing that abortion medications are safe and effective , according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

These views have already alienated some members of the HELP Committee.

“Heidi Overton is a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA,” Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, said on social media . “I will vote no.”

MAHA voters ‘betrayed, disgusted’ by Trump administration

Her role in the White House had her working closely with US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well as with other government agencies.

But her work on some of president’s initiatives has also put her in the crosshairs of wellness influencers who accused Overton of crafting a February executive order that protects the supply of the weed killer glyphosate, or Roundup, and gives legal protections to its manufacturers, saying it is vital to national security.

The order was immediately blasted by the “Make America Healthy Again” movement as a betrayal of promises by Kennedy to curb the use of harmful pesticides in the US.

In August, Alex Clark, a conservative podcaster, “wellness girlie” and contributor to Turning Point USA, told her 166,000 followers on X to ask their senators not to vote for Overton to run the FDA.

“Heidi WROTE the disastrous glyphosate executive order this year. She has EXTENSIVE personal ties to Bayer. This is the OPPOSITE of what we were promised when the President said we’d be getting corruption out of our 3 letter agencies,” Clark posted .

Her post drew a response from the White House press office. “This is not true,” spokesperson Kush Desai wrote . “The ‘glyphosate executive order’ originated with the national security team.”

Overton was brought in at the end of the process, he said, and pushed “as many MAHA-minded edits as possible to a mostly-baked EO.”

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美国总统唐纳德·特朗普提名的美国食品药品监督管理局局长人选海蒂·奥弗顿博士将于周四接受参议院一个重要委员会的质询。

在获得提名之前，奥弗顿在特朗普第二任期内扮演着举足轻重但主要幕后的角色，担任国内政策副助理，负责白宫的卫生保健项目。周四的听证会将是美国民众首次有机会直接聆听她的发言，她很可能将面临关于其对疫苗、药物流产以及机构改革等问题的尖锐质询。

上一任FDA局长马蒂·马卡里博士在白宫的巨大压力下于5月辞职。此前，一位了解内情的政府高级官员告诉CNN，代理局长、曾任该机构食品副局长的凯尔·迪亚曼塔斯多次拒绝了这一职位，即便特朗普直接邀请他担任此职也未果。

关于特朗普预计提名的FDA局长人选，我们目前了解的情况

参议院卫生、教育、劳工和养老金委员会将在审议是否将妮可·萨菲尔博士的卫生局长提名提交参议院全体会议表决后不久，就让奥弗顿面临严峻考验。此前，特朗普政府一直难以找到一位能够获得国会支持的卫生局长候选人。萨菲尔是一位放射科医生，在被提名为美国首席医疗官之前，她曾是福克斯新闻的常驻评论员和播客主持人。她是特朗普提名的第三位卫生局长人选。

和萨菲尔一样，奥弗顿也是一名医生。根据她的领英个人资料显示，她毕业于新墨西哥大学医学院，并在约翰·霍普金斯大学担任外科住院医师。据美国医学专科委员会认证，她拥有公共卫生和普通预防医学的专科医师资格。如果她当选，年仅37岁的她将成为美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）历史上最年轻的局长之一。

她本人也是一名患者。她最近告诉“突破1型糖尿病”（Breakthrough T1D）组织的代表，她患有1型糖尿病，也称青少年糖尿病，这是一种自身免疫性疾病，患者体内的免疫系统会攻击胰腺中产生胰岛素的细胞。目前，许多前景广阔的细胞疗法正在研发中，旨在治疗甚至逆转这种疾病，但近年来，由于美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）积压了大量细胞和基因疗法的审批申请，该领域的进展受到了阻碍。如果奥弗顿能够担任FDA局长，她将有能力简化生物技术公司研发新疗法的审批流程。

两位前FDA局长在Stat网站上发表的一篇评论文章称她“在困难时期是合适的人选”，文章写道：“奥弗顿有很多工作要做，但她已经展现出了成为领导者的能力。她清楚自己将面临的挑战，以及实现改善公众健康的承诺需要付出什么。”

她将掌管一个庞大的机构。美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）拥有约16000名员工，年度预算约为70亿美元。消费者每消费1美元，就有约20美分来自FDA监管的产品。根据美国人事管理局的数据，自2024年以来，FDA受到特朗普政府裁员政策的严重冲击，已裁员超过4600人。

尽管她与白宫关系密切，但她并非该职位的不二人选。众议院卫生、教育、劳工和养老金委员会主席比尔·卡西迪（Bill Cassidy）是一位医生，也是路易斯安那州的共和党人，他曾表示对她经验不足感到担忧。

“虽然我尊重奥弗顿博士作为一名医生的经验，但我对她被提名为FDA局长深表担忧。她缺乏管理经验，无法胜任领导一个已经面临人员配备和士气问题的庞大机构的工作，”卡西迪在社交媒体上发帖说。

特朗普称一些常规疫苗将分成五剂接种。疫苗专家表示，这种做法行不通。

卡西迪还谴责奥弗顿参与了特朗普近期关于疫苗的“荒谬”行政命令，该命令要求将麻疹、腮腺炎和风疹疫苗分成几剂，分别在不同的医疗预约中接种。奥弗顿在总统宣布该命令时站在他身后，并在之后发表讲话，解释了旨在迫使各州采纳政府政策的法律措施。卡西迪表示，她的参与令人质疑她是否真正致力于维护科学和儿童健康。“仅凭这一点就几乎足以让她失去资格，”他写道。

其他人则走得更远。曾任美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）官员、现任非营利组织“公共利益科学中心”主席的彼得·卢里博士表示，奥弗顿与总统削减儿童疫苗接种计划以及将某些疫苗拆分成单独注射的做法一致，应该“完全取消其资格”。

卢里还对奥弗顿缺乏经验表示担忧。

“美国食品药品监督管理局已经裁减了数千名员工，其中包括食品安全检查员，并且难以应对食品召回和食源性疾病爆发的情况。尽管当局正竭尽全力重新招人，但该机构仍处于危机之中。现在不是任命一位需要边做边学的局长的时候，”他在一份声明中说道。

安娜·莫尼梅克/盖蒂图片社

特朗普政府急于稳定肯尼迪领导下的卫生与公众服务部，着眼于中期选举。

尽管有些人可能对她的资历持怀疑态度，但奥弗顿显然得到了总统的支持。

“海蒂博士在我执政期间一直是位杰出的人物，她曾与肯尼迪部长、奥兹博士及其团队直接合作，共同推进了历史上最具变革性的医疗健康议程。她以勇于挑战最棘手的问题而闻名，并为我提供了最有利于国家的解决方案……她聪明睿智，深受大家尊敬！”特朗普上个月在Truth Social上宣布提名她时说道。

奥弗顿在新冠疫情期间加入特朗普的第一届政府，担任国内政策委员会的白宫研究员。之后，她在约翰·霍普金斯大学彭博公共卫生学院获得临床研究博士学位。她曾任亲特朗普智库“美国优先政策研究所”的首席政策官；该研究所其他被特朗普第二届政府聘用担任要职的人员包括农业部长布鲁克·罗林斯和前司法部长帕姆·邦迪。

作为 FDA 局长，奥弗顿将负责国家的药品政策，包括该机构对米非司酮的批准。米非司酮是两种用于引产的药物之一，目前正处于诉讼之中。

由保守派智库传统基金会创建的“2025 项目”文件已成为特朗普政府第二任期内许多政策的基础，其既定目标之一是更严格地限制米非司酮的使用，或者彻底撤销美国食品药品监督管理局对该药物的批准。

在“美国优先政策研究所”任职期间，奥弗顿对美国最高法院2022年6月推翻“罗诉韦德案”的裁决表示欢呼，称其为“生命权的巨大胜利”。她还撰写了一份政策简报，称药物流产“对女性有害”，尽管美国妇产科医师学会表示，数十年的证据表明，堕胎药物是安全有效的。

这些观点已经疏远了HELP委员会的一些成员。

“海蒂·奥弗顿是一个极右翼的反堕胎极端分子，她根本不应该领导FDA，”来自华盛顿州的民主党参议员帕蒂·默里在社交媒体上说。“我会投反对票。”

MAHA选民对特朗普政府感到“背叛和厌恶”。

她在白宫的工作让她有机会与美国卫生与公众服务部部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪以及其他政府机构密切合作。

但她参与的一些总统倡议也让她成为了健康领域影响者的攻击目标，他们指责奥弗顿在二月份签署了一项行政命令，保护除草剂草甘膦（农达）的供应，并为其生产商提供法律保护，称其对国家安全至关重要。

该命令立即遭到“让美国再次健康”运动的猛烈抨击，认为这是肯尼迪总统限制美国使用有害杀虫剂的承诺遭到背叛。

8 月，保守派播客主持人、“健康达人”兼美国转折点组织 (Turning Point USA) 的撰稿人 Alex Clark 在 X 网站上告诉她的 16.6 万粉丝，要求他们的参议员不要投票支持 Overton 担任 FDA 局长。

克拉克发帖称：“海蒂今年撰写了那项灾难性的草甘膦行政命令。她与拜耳公司有着广泛的私人关系。这与总统承诺要清除三字母机构中的腐败完全背道而驰。”

她的帖子引起了白宫新闻办公室的回应。发言人库什·德赛写道：“这不是真的。‘草甘膦行政命令’最初是由国家安全团队提出的。”

奥弗顿说，他是在流程的最后阶段加入的，并“尽可能多地对一个基本成型的行政命令进行MAHA式的修改”。