The Institute of Medicine has tapped Dr. Margaret Hamburg, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to serve as its next foreign secretary.
Hamburg stepped down from the FDA last month after nearly six years at the agency, the longest term served since Dr. David Kessler, who served in the presidential administrations of both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Dr. Stephen Ostroff has been named acting commissioner at the FDA.
In her new, part-time role as the IOM's foreign secretary, Hamburg will serve as a senior adviser on international matters to the IOM president and council, as well as a liaison to other countries' academies of medicine and science. A part of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute provides independent advice to policymakers, health professionals, businesses and the public.
Jo Ivey Boufford, president of the New York Academy of Medicine, has served as foreign secretary for the past 8½ years. Hamburg succeeded her on Monday, beginning a term that lasts through June 30, 2019.
The second woman to serve as commissioner of the FDA, Hamburg also served as assistant HHS secretary for policy and evaluation, and commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Hamburg was elected to the IOM's membership in 1994 and served as chair of the Board on Global Health and a member of the IOM Council from 2005 to 2009. Her father, Dr. David Hamburg, served as the institute's president from 1975 to 1980.
Late last month, Hamburg criticized the 21st Century Cures Act, a draft bill released in January that, among other things, would speed up approval for medical technologies and drugs, in part by allowing for more “flexible” clinical trial design.
“There's a misperception that you might be able to speed up innovation by lowering the standards for safety and efficacy, and I think that would be a terrible mistake that would not only just damage patients, but industry as well,” Hamburg said at a National Press Club luncheon in late March, one of her final public addresses as commissioner.
