Food and Drug Administration Margaret Hamburg chief announced her resignation Thursday. After nearly six years on the job, she notified her colleagues of her decision to step down in March via email. The agency’s chief scientist, Dr. Stephen Ostroff, will serve as acting commissioner for the time being. She is one of the longest-serving FDA commissioners in the modern era. Hamburg was responsible for the creation of a new food safety system, new tobacco regulations, and reforms in how drugs are reviewed. She was nominated in March 2009 by President Barack Obama to become the Commissioner of the FDA, and was sworn in on May 22. In 2014, Hamburg was named the world’s 51st most powerful woman by Forbes magazine. Hamburg took the helm following a multitude of high-profile safety issues at the agency ranging from: contaminated blood thinners to salmonella-tainted peanut butter that required one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history. The FDA has worked diligently to put new food safety rules in place, phased out trans fats from the food supply, proposed updates to nutrition facts on the backs of food packaging and required restaurants to label calories on menus. She took control of the agency at a time when its reputation had been besmirched by accusations that agency officials were allowing politics to influence their better judgement.
