FDA hires director for Office of Drug Safety

Gerald Dal Pan, director of the FDA's Division of Surveillance, Research, and Communication Support (DSRCS), will become the director of the FDA's Office of Drug Safety.

In that role, he will run the agency's high-profile postmarketing drug safety program. He also will work closely with stakeholders inside and outside the federal government, including the Drug Safety Oversight Board and Congress; develop and maintain international and national contacts with regulators; implement policies and initiatives related to adverse drug events and the MedWatch program; and represent the FDA and its Center for Drug Evaluation of Research in scientific and regulatory matters related to drug safety.

Dal Pan has been with the FDA since 2000. He was first hired as a medical reviewer in the Division of Anesthetic Critical Care and Addiction Drug Products. He became director of DSRCS in 2003.