Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) would like to congratulate Dr. Margaret Hamburg on her appointment to FDA Commissioner.
Friends looks forward to working with Dr. Hamburg on vital issues that directly impact patient’s lives and to being a resource to help drive FDA’s commitment to personalized medicine, and enhance the cancer program at the FDA.
We believe that Dr. Hamburg will rely on her diverse background, and her exemplary knowledge of science clinical practice, as they relate to the agency, to continue to ensure the safety and efficacy of new therapies.
This appointment of Dr. Hamburg by President Obama, and the leadership role she now takes, will directly impact research, innovation and treatment of cancer.
Dr. Hamburg has proven to have the integrity and skill to work with Congress on these pressing issues, and has shown to be an outstanding leader, manager, and exceptional communicator as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as New York City Health Commissioner, and at her current position as Senior Scientist for the Global Health and Security Initiative.
Friends of Cancer Research looks forward to working with Dr. Hamburg to ensure that our country continues its leadership in scientific research and innovation across the world, bringing hope to patients and their families battling this horrible disease.
About Margaret A. Hamburg, MD
Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, currently serves as Senior Scientist, Global Health and Security Initiative, NTI.
One of the youngest people ever elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Margaret “Peggy” Hamburg is a highly regarded expert in community health and bio-defense, including preparedness for nuclear, biological, and chemical threats. She currently serves as Senior Scientist for the Global Health and Security Initiative of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a foundation dedicated to reducing the threat to public safety from nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.
A graduate of Radcliffe College, she earned her M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and completed her training at the New York Hospital/Cornell University Medical Center.
From 1997 to 2001, Hamburg held the position of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), serving as principal policy advisor to Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala. From 1991 to 1997, she served as New York City Health Commissioner, a position in which she designed and implemented an internationally recognized tuberculosis control program that produced dramatic declines in tuberculosis cases, and created the first public health bio-terrorism preparedness program in the nation.
Between 1986 and 1990, she held a variety of positions within HHS, including Special Assistant to the Director, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; and Special Assistant to the Director, and later Assistant Director, of the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.
A member of the Harvard College Board of Overseers and the Boards of Trustees of Rockefeller University and the Rockefeller Foundation, Hamburg is also a distinguished senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science.
She holds membership in the New York Academy of Medicine, and the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of Henry Schein Company. She has served on the boards of other organizations, including the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Primary Care Development Corporation, and the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Infectious Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
