Public health expert and pulmonologist Dr. Vin Gupta is a leading candidate to become the principal medical adviser at the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Politico has reported. The Indian American is currently the chief medical officer for new products at Amazon.
Politico says “Gupta raised his national profile over the last two years as a medical analyst and frequent TV commentator on the Covid pandemic.” He was also part of a group of health experts advising President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and transition on the pandemic response.
As part of the gig, Gupta would manage a broad portfolio ranging from the agency’s Covid-19 response to its aggressive crackdown on vaping and nicotine. He is also expected to take a lead role in guiding the FDA’s communications strategy, serving as its public face on high-profile issues and trying to bolster trust in the agency’s health recommendations.
Additionally, he would “be charged primarily with improving the FDA’s image and boosting public trust in the agency as a public health authority, as well as serving as a top adviser to Califf [FDA Commissioner Robert McKinnon Califf] on various policy issues,” per the Politico report. “The search for a top adviser comes as the FDA has taken a central role in simultaneous efforts to battle the pandemic, ease a shortage of infant formula and protect abortion access,” the report added.
Gupta has spent the past 15 years working worldwide to improve public health for organizations including the Centers for Disease Control, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the Harvard Global Health Institute, the World Health Organization, and the Pentagon’s Center for Global Health Engagement.
Gupta has spent the past 15 years working worldwide to improve public health for organizations including the Centers for Disease Control, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the Harvard Global Health Institute, the World Health Organization, and the Pentagon’s Center for Global Health Engagement, his website says. He is an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
He concurrently holds an active commission as a Major in the United States Air Force Reserve Medical Corps, where he serves as a deployable critical care aerospace physician with the 446th Aeromedical Staging Squadron based at Joint-Base Lewis McChord.
He received his BA from Princeton, MD from Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Master’s in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and Master’s in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a regular health policy contributor for national media outlets, and a board member of several health-focused nonprofit organizations nationwide.
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