People

Wayne T. Smith has been appointed executive vice president of BASF Corporation, and president of its newly formed global catalysts division. This division is a combination of existing global catalyst operations and the Engelhard Corporation catalyst operations recently acquired by BASF. Smith previously served as vice president and general manager of specialty construction chemicals at W.R. Grace and Company.

Steven Niedelman will retire as Deputy for Regulatory Operations in the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) at theFood and Drug Administration at the end of June 2006. Beginning July 1, ORA will have two deputy associate commissioners for regulatory affairs. Diana Kolaitis will assume lead responsibility for the operational aspects of ORA’s work. David Horowitz will lead the strategic aspects of work at ORA, including setting priorities, developing policies, and developing new methods to fulfill the office’s mission.

The FDA has named Deborah M. Autor as director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)’s Office of Compliance. Autor joined the Office of Compliance in 2001 and has been associate director for compliance policy since 2002. Before joining CDER, Autor was a trial attorney in the Department of Justice’s Office of Consumer Litigation.

Florence Houn, MD, has accepted the position of Deputy Director in the Office of Vaccines in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Houn previously served as director of the Office of Drug Evaluation III, and helped both the Office of New Drugs (OND) and the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) achieve their goals in recent years.

Julie Beitz, MD, has agreed to continue as acting director of Office of Drug Evaluation III at FDA’s CDER, a position she has held since January 2006, when Houn moved to the Office of Compliance in CDER on assignment.