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  1. FDA Leadership: 1907 to Today

Mark B. McClellan

Photo of Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.DMark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D

11/14/2002 - 3/26/2004*

Mark McClellan was sworn in as Commissioner of Food and Drugs on November 14, 2002, following Senate confirmation by unanimous consent.

Previously, he was Associate Professor of Economics at Stanford University, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford Medical School, a practicing internist, and Director of the Program on Health Outcomes Research at Stanford University. He was also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Additionally, he was a Member of the National Cancer Policy Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Associate Editor of the Journal of Health Economics, and co-Principal Investigator of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal study of the health and economic well-being of older Americans. From 1998-99, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, where he supervised economic analysis and policy development on a wide range of domestic policy issues.

During 2001 and 2002, Dr. McClellan served in the White House. He was a Member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, where he advised on domestic economic issues. He also served during this time as a senior policy director for health care and related economic issues for the White House.

Dr. McClellan's research studies have addressed measuring and improving the quality of health care, the economic and policy factors influencing medical treatment decisions and health outcomes, estimating the effects of medical treatments, technological change in health care and its consequences for health and medical expenditures, and the relationship between health and economic well-being. He has twice received the Arrow Award for Outstanding Research in Health Economics. He earned his MD degree from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and his PhD in Economics from MIT. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and he is board-certified in Internal Medicine.

Dr. McClellan is married and has two daughters.

 

*The post of commissioner was vacant from Jan. 19, 2001 until November 2002. Bernard A. Schwetz served as acting principal deputy commissioner from Jan. 21, 2001 until Feb. 24, 2002. At that time, Lester M. Crawford Jr. was appointed deputy commissioner and he headed the agency until Mark McClellan was appointed commissioner in November 2002. With Dr. McClellan’s departure in March 2004, Dr. Crawford was again named to lead FDA, this time as acting commissioner.

 
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