FDA Head Leaving Trump Administration

May 12, 2026 5:38 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marty Makary is resigning as President Donald Trump’s Food and Drug Administration head. The surgeon and health researcher’s tenure had drawn complaints from health industry executives, anti-abortion activists and other Trump allies. Trump said Tuesday that Makary “was having some difficulty” but ”he’s going to go on and he’s going to do well.” Makary came to the attention of Republicans as an outspoken critic of COVID-19 health measures during the pandemic, when he appeared frequently on Fox News Channel. But at the FDA, Makary failed to win the staff’s confidence after mass layoffs, leadership changes and a series of controversies in which the agency’s scientific principles appeared to be overridden by political interests.