Outgoing FDA head warns of sweeping policy changes in second Trump term

Robert Califf says Trump and RFK Jr could bring disruption and uncertainty to Food and Drug Administration

Sweeping changes to health policy under the incoming Trump administration, and at the likely direction of vaccine denier Robert F Kennedy Jr, will bring disruption and uncertainty to an agency currently “at peak performance”, the outgoing head of the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned.

Robert Califf, speaking at the Friends of Cancer Research annual meeting in Washington DC on Tuesday night, said he was personally disappointed by the election result, and that FDA staff were “putting their heads down and doing their work” as they await the upheaval Trump has indicated.