People In Brief

FDA's first chief scientist: Frank Torti joins FDA as the agency's chief scientist and principal deputy commissioner, FDA announces April 9. In the newly created position, Torti will help launch the FDA Fellowship Program, an effort to attract as many as 2,000 new professionals to an FDA training program. Despite the absence of congressional funding, the Reagan-Udall Foundation also will be involved in the effort. Torti, whose clinical interests include genitourinary oncology, also will oversee FDA's intramural research programs and emphasize the importance of clinical research trials. He assumes the post in May and is expected to help fill the void in the commissioner's office left by former Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock when she returned to the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Torti previously was Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake Forest University School of Medicine...