STAT+: Vinay Prasad tapped to run FDA center that regulates vaccines, gene therapies

WASHINGTON — Vinay Prasad will be the next director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration, overseeing the regulation of vaccines, gene therapies, and the blood supply. 

Prasad, previously an epidemiology professor at the University of California at San Francisco, has sharply criticized the medical mainstream, including the FDA, in the past. He holds a medical degree from the University of Chicago and trained in oncology and hematology at the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health. 

FDA commissioner Marty Makary informed staff of the hire in a Tuesday email obtained by STAT. Prasad replaces former CBER director Peter Marks, who was forced to resign by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in March. 

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