It is fair to say that far more individuals aside from the commissioner are instrumental as far as the drug review and approval process in the U.S., but Makary we expect will promote technology and innovation in a way that offers some reprieve for those that feared a department more aligned with different virtues.

President-elect Trump has picked Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins’s surgeon who has espoused contrarian views about the COVID-19 pandemic, to lead the Federal Drug Administration. Makary is a surgical oncologist at Johns Hopkins University and an author.

Makary and Weldon, who have criticized the agencies they may soon run, were joined by Janette Nesheiwat, Trump’s pick to be surgeon general.