President Donald Trump will nominate Dr. Heidi Overton as his new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, he said Wednesday in a social media post. “Dr. Heidi has been a ROCK STAR in my Administration,” Trump wrote. Overton, a physician, is a White House domestic policy official who regularly briefs the president on various health issues. She was at his side earlier this month when he announced an executive order aimed at reducing the number of universally recommended childhood vaccines. At the time, he urged “blue states” to adopt the administration’s “gold standard” recommendations, which many doctors said were not supported by current science. Trump referenced the event in his post announcing the election. “Heidi is “ALWAYS RIGHT,” Secretary Kennedy said recently in the Oval Office!” the president published. “We need your leadership at the FDA now to ensure America remains the WORLD LEADER in scientific discoveries and cures.” According to a senior administration official with knowledge of the process, Overton was Trump’s third choice for the position, and the administration was still interviewing candidates for the position on Tuesday. Former Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, turned down the job, the official said, as did Acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas, citing his young children and other personal reservations. If Overton is confirmed by the Senate, he would lead the agency at a delicate time, with the recent cyclospora outbreak in several states raising concerns about the safety of the country’s food supply. Bloomberg was the first to report that Overton would be Trump’s pick for the FDA. The timing of the official announcement is unclear, but it will likely be sometime this week. Overton would replace Dr. Marty Makary, who resigned from the position in May after clashes with the White House over issues such as vaping policy and access to abortion pills. She previously served as vice president and policy director of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank. While there, Overton celebrated the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and with it the national right to abortion. The ruling “will allow Americans to reevaluate the value of every baby’s potential in the womb and choose life through a democratic process,” he said in a statement at the time. In a 2024 op-ed in Newsweek, Overton criticized Kamala Harris, then vice president and Democratic presidential candidate, because she “refused to condemn late-term abortion,” adding that Democrats “won’t even define what a woman is.” The FDA is conducting a safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone, but has not yet issued a report. Republicans have been pushing to reverse a Biden-era rule that allows mifepristone to be mailed and dispensed via telehealth, not just in person. The agency is also involved as the Trump administration seeks to make changes to the country’s vaccine policies. As a White House adviser, Overton participated in Trump’s signing last week of an executive order aimed at reducing the number of standard childhood vaccines from 18 to 11. Speaking at the Oval Office event, Overton criticized “blue states” that work with outside entities like the American Academy of Pediatrics and recommend what she considers outdated vaccine recommendations. “So you’re saying, especially to states that are willing, to take a look at this scientific evaluation; these are the standard childhood vaccine recommendations, and they should put this into state law so that when parents go to enroll their children in school, they don’t have to meet some of the requirements for vaccines that are no longer recommended for all children,” he said. According to Overton’s profile on the America First Policy Institute website, she is certified in public health and general preventive medicine, was a general surgery resident at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and completed her medical studies at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.
