President Donald J. Trump has announced his intent to nominate Dr. Stephen Hahn, Chief Medical Executive at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), to be the next Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He would succeed Acting Commissioner Norman Sharpless, who became Acting Commissioner in April 2019 after FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stepped down for personal reasons.

Dr. Stephen Hahn has been Chief Medical Executive at MDACC, Houston, Texas since May 2018 and the Gilbert H. Fletcher Memorial Distinguished Chair and Professor of Radiation Oncology at MDACC since January 2015. As a radiation oncologist, Dr. Hahn specializes in treating lung cancer and sarcoma.

From 1996 to 2014, Dr. Hahn was at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Henry K. Pancoast Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology from 2005 to 2014. Dr. Hahn was a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from 1989 to 1996.

He completed his residency in radiation oncology at NCI, his fellowship in medical oncology at NCI, and his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco Hospitals.

Dr. Hahn received his medical degree from Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1984 and his B.A. in biology from Rice University, Houston, Texas in 1980. He is board-certified in both medical oncology and radiation oncology.

One Senate Committee, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, is scheduling a confirmation hearing on November 20 on the nomination of Dr. Hahn.

Source: The White House, US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions