Jere E. Goyan, Ph.D.
10/21/1979 - 1/20/1981*
Jere E. Goyan was the first pharmacist to serve as Commissioner
of Food and Drugs. Born in Oakland, California in 1927, he was
educated at the University of California-San Francisco and the
University of California-Berkeley, where he received his Ph. D.
in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1957. From 1956 to 1963 he was
on the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Pharmacy,
and from 1963 to 1979 he was a faculty member at the University
of California-San Francisco School of Pharmacy, where he also
was dean since 1967. His principal area of research expertise
concerned pharmacokinetics.
Patricia Harris, Secretary of HEW, named Goyan Commissioner of
Food and Drugs, a position he served in from October 1979 to January
1981. Highlights during Goyan's tenure at FDA included the emerging
link between toxic shock syndrome and the Rely tampon--and the
agency's response, an attempt to make patient package inserts
compulsory, and an investigation of widespread polychlorinated
biphenyl (PCB) contamination of livestock and feed.
Goyan returned to his deanship at UCSF after Ronald Reagan was
elected president, where he remained until his recent move to
an executive position in the pharmaceutical industry. Among many
other honors, Goyan received the Remington Medal from the American
Pharmaceutical Association, numerous lectureships, and honorary
degrees from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science,
the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and other institutions.
* Mark Novitch, M.D., deputy commissioner
from 1979 to 1985, acted as commissioner on two separate occasions,
totaling approximately 13-1/2 months, between the tenures of Jere
Goyan, Arthur Hayes, and Frank Young.
