| Post: | United States Commissioner of Food and Drugs |
| Incumbent: | Robert Califf |
| Incumbentsince: | February 17, 2022 |
| Department: | Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration |
| Reports To: | Secretary of Health and Human Services |
| Termlength: | No fixed term |
The United States commissioner of food and drugs is the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The commissioner is appointed by the president of the United States and must be confirmed by the Senate. The commissioner reports to the secretary of health and human services.
Due to frequent controversies involving the FDA, appointments are not always prompt and the agency is often headed by an acting commissioner. For example, Andrew von Eschenbach's appointment was held up by senators who objected to the FDA's refusal to allow emergency contraception to be sold over the counter.
The commissioner has frequently been a physician, but this is not a requirement for the post. Commissioners rarely come from a food-related background.[1]
Unnumbered, colored rows indicate acting commissioners.
| Name (birth–death) | Portrait | Term of office | Appointed by (term) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start of term | End of term | |||||
| 1 | Harvey Washington Wiley | January 1, 1907 | March 15, 1912 | Theodore Roosevelt | ||
| 2 | Carl L. Alsberg | December 16, 1912 | July 15, 1921 | William Howard Taft | ||
| 3 | Walter G. Campbell | July 16, 1921 | June 30, 1924 | Warren G. Harding | ||
| 4 | Charles Albert Browne Jr. | July 1, 1924 | June 30, 1927 | Calvin Coolidge | ||
| 3[2] | Walter G. Campbell | July 1, 1927 | April 30, 1944 | Calvin Coolidge | ||
| 5 | Paul B. Dunbar | May 6, 1944 | May 31, 1951 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | ||
| 6 | Charles W. Crawford | June 1, 1951 | July 31, 1954 | Harry S. Truman | ||
| 7 | George P. Larrick | August 12, 1954 | December 27, 1965 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | ||
| 8 | James L. Goddard | January 17, 1966 | July 1, 1968 | Lyndon B. Johnson | ||
| 9 | Herbert L. Ley Jr. | July 1, 1968 | December 12, 1969 | Lyndon B. Johnson | ||
| 10 | Charles C. Edwards | December 13, 1969 | March 15, 1973 | Richard Nixon | ||
| 11 | Alexander M. Schmidt | July 20, 1973 | November 30, 1976 | Richard Nixon | ||
| 12 | Donald Kennedy | April 4, 1977 | June 30, 1979 | Jimmy Carter | ||
| 13 | Jere E. Goyan | October 21, 1979 | January 20, 1981 | Jimmy Carter | ||
| 14 | Arthur H. Hayes Jr. | April 13, 1981 | September 11, 1983 | Ronald Reagan | ||
| 15 | Frank E. Young | July 15, 1984 | December 17, 1989 | Ronald Reagan | ||
| 16 | David A. Kessler | November 8, 1990 | February 28, 1997 | George H. W. BushBill Clinton | ||
| 17 | Jane E. Henney | January 17, 1999 | January 19, 2001 | Bill Clinton | ||
| 18 | Mark McClellan | November 14, 2002 | March 26, 2004 | George W. Bush | ||
| 19 | Lester Crawford | July 18, 2005 | September 23, 2005 | George W. Bush | ||
| 20 | Andrew von Eschenbach | December 13, 2006 | January 20, 2009 | George W. Bush | ||
| 21 | Margaret Hamburg | May 22, 2009 | April 1, 2015 | Barack Obama | ||
| – | Stephen Ostroff[3] | April 1, 2015 | February 22, 2016 | Barack Obama | ||
| 22 | Robert Califf | February 22, 2016 | January 20, 2017 | Barack Obama | ||
| – | Stephen Ostroff | January 20, 2017 | May 11, 2017 | Donald Trump | ||
| 23 | Scott Gottlieb | May 11, 2017 | April 5, 2019 | Donald Trump | ||
| – | Norman Sharpless | April 5, 2019 | November 1, 2019 | Donald Trump | ||
| – | Admiral Brett Giroir | November 6, 2019[4] [5] | December 17, 2019 | Donald Trump | ||
| 24 | Stephen Hahn | December 17, 2019 | January 20, 2021[6] | Donald Trump | ||
| – | Janet Woodcock | January 20, 2021[7] | February 17, 2022 | Joe Biden | ||
| 25[8] | Robert Califf | February 17, 2022[9] | present | Joe Biden | ||