The Future Of US FDA’s Institutional Memory

The upcoming retirement of Janet Woodcock will mean the loss of one of the US FDA’s most experienced and influential drug regulators. However, the drug center still has plenty of long-tenured staff peppered across all of its key functions.

Woodcock institutional memory
Woodcock's legacy includes an experienced staff. • Source: Nielsen Hobbs; the Pink Sheet | Shutterstock, Getty images

It is a testament to Janet Woodcock’s impact on the US Food & Drug Administration’s regulatory structure and philosophy that her final years as acting commissioner and principal deputy will only be a footnote in the appreciations that will be flowing during her upcoming retirement.

That is not to diminish the significance of her role in the past few years – first as the critical...

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