‘Like an atom bomb’: Under RFK Jr.’s broken leadership, handpicked vaccine skeptic tapped to oversee the FDA’s drug office

On [December 3, 2005], Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg was tapped as acting director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which is responsible for evaluating new drugs and ensuring adequate supplies of existing ones. Her appointment came after the abrupt resignation of Richard Pazdur, a veteran FDA scientist who took over the office just three weeks ago. 

“Putting Tracy Beth in charge is like dropping an atom bomb,” one agency source said, adding that multiple top-level officials are preparing resignations. “It’s an extinction level event. Tracy Beth Høeg has never supervised a drug review, never has conducted a clinical trial. She doesn’t understand laws and regulations.”

Høeg, who is a sports medicine physician and epidemiologist, served as the FDA’s representative on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel handpicked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that on [December 5, 2005] revised decadeslong guidance on when children should get their first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. 

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Høeg is the fifth person this year to head a drug office that has been rocked by sudden leadership changes.

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