Janet Woodcock, Tom Brady and Joe Biden: Leadership in 2021
(Thursday, February 11, 2021) The FDA would soon have a new commissioner and among several leading contenders for the position is the 37-year veteran of FDA, Dr. Janet Woodcock. Like others, we speculate if this is the year, she finally becomes the FDA commissioner. This has been a good year for experienced people who outperformed others in highly competitive settings. We have a President who beat his opponent by 10% margin (in terms of total votes cast), a feat not seen in decades of razor thin decisions. Then last Sunday, Tom Brady’s team totally overwhelmed the rival team with 4 touchdowns and a 22-point margin, a rare feat in Super Bowl games. Both Brady and Biden won against stiff odds based on their depth of experience. So, reading the tea leaves, one can speculate if this is the year for Dr. Woodcock too. She has been suggested as a candidate for the FDA commissioner in earlier administrations too, but other younger less experienced candidates got the position over her. This year is different for a few reasons, fueling our speculation. First, Dr. Woodcock is hands down one of the most experienced FDA experts there are having spent most of her time at the FDA as the chief of its largest Center. Unlike other contenders for the Commissioner’s position, she is truly the insider candidate who is already running the Agency. Over the decades she has built a reputation as a steady hand who saw FDA transition from another government office of the 80s and 90s into the behemoth it is today both in terms of its scope and public persona. She unquestionably knows FDA’s working better than anyone, which is strongly needed as we come out of the pandemic, and FDA goes back to not being in the news, negatively. Second, she has also built a reputation as a patient advocate making herself available to meet with patients, spearheading FDA’s patient focused drug development program, and making some populist approval decisions based heavily on the patients’ perspectives such as that for the first DMD drug. Patient groups should cheer her candidature. Third, she has stayed mostly away of any controversies that affect anyone in a position of power for that long. Despite being at the helm of Covid-19 therapeutic development in one of the most controversial times in FDA’s history, she stayed out of any negative news. Her name rarely popped up on the radar of the last President, who blamed practically anyone involved in Covid-19 related decisions. She doesn’t tweet much, her interviews are very methodical and lack sensational elements, and she stays on message time and again. She is perhaps the only FDA official who came out of the pandemic practically unscathed. Fourth, at 72 years of age, this is perhaps her last chance to be the FDA Commissioner. The previous administrations have preferred young outsiders to lead FDA each bringing their own brand to the Agency looking towards post-FDA careers. It has been speculated by her peers that Dr. Woodcock is not much interest in jobs outside FDA, and may even retire after leaving FDA, quite much like it was said for the then Vice-President Biden just 4 years ago. A person like that would bring the much-needed stability and gravitas to the FDA, after its worst year of public relations, a point likely not lost on the Biden administration as it tries to recoup FDA’s public image. This is perhaps the only administration in decades that will not treat he age as a negative trait. FDA Commissioners, while not directly involved in the nitty gritty of most decisions regarding the products FDA regulates, are the most visible face of the Agency. It could benefit from her balanced personality and positive image. Having someone who goes back to basics and brings the image of a neutral, logical, and patient-focused perspective is strongly needed to salvage FDA’s image. That could be the “win” FDA needs. She is the Tom Brady and Joe Biden for FDA. We will soon find out if Mr. Biden thinks the same of her. |
|
AUTHOR
Dr. Mukesh Kumar
Founder & CEO, FDAMap
Email: [email protected]
Linkedin: Mukesh Kumar, PhD, RAC
Instagram: mukeshkumarrac
Twitter: @FDA_MAP
Youtube: MukeshKumarFDAMap
Dr. Mukesh Kumar
Founder & CEO, FDAMap
Email: [email protected]
Linkedin: Mukesh Kumar, PhD, RAC
Instagram: mukeshkumarrac
Twitter: @FDA_MAP
Youtube: MukeshKumarFDAMap