FDA Appoints New Officers

FDA has named Virginia Behr as the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER, www.fda.gov/cder/) ombudsman. Behr has been with the agency since 1999 and before joining the FDA she worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) investigating the electrophysiological bases of stimulant drug preference. Behr has been serving as the acting CDER ombudsman for the past four months.

The agency has also selected Edward Cox as director for the Office of Antimicrobial Products (OAP). Cox has been serving as the acting director for OAP since August of 2006. Cox graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his medical education at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.