2026-06-04T21:58:12.996Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/04/politics/trump-fda-ned-sharpless-maha-rfk
- 特朗普政府正在考虑曾在特朗普首届政府担任卫生官员的肿瘤学家诺曼·夏普利斯博士领导美国食品药品监督管理局。
- 夏普利斯反对卫生与公众服务部部长罗伯特·F·肯尼迪 Jr. 倡导的疫苗安全法规修改，肯尼迪也是“让美国再次健康”运动的支持者。
- 正在考虑担任FDA局长的夏普利斯和其他人选反映出政府正在远离“让美国再次健康”运动，因为白宫在中期选举前寻求传统派领导人。
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特朗普政府正在审查一位首届政府时期的卫生官员担任食品药品监督管理局局长，该官员曾批评卫生与公众服务部部长罗伯特·F·肯尼迪 Jr. 倡导的疫苗政策。
四位知情人士透露，曾在唐纳德·特朗普总统首届政府期间担任美国国家癌症研究所所长的诺曼·“内德”·夏普利斯博士，是正在考虑的少数外部候选人之一。
夏普利斯在国家癌症研究所的工作赢得广泛赞誉，他在整个特朗普政府任期以及拜登政府初期领导该研究所，直至2022年离开政府。
他还曾在2019年短暂担任特朗普政府的代理FDA局长，这段为期七个月的任职经历可能对特朗普高级官员颇具价值，因为他们希望在经历数月动荡后稳定这个陷入困境的机构，知情人士表示。
夏普利斯被考虑担任FDA局长一职，是该政府愿意摒弃“让美国再次健康”运动、转而支持更传统领导人的最新迹象，这些传统领导人被认为可以巩固这个如今被视为共和党政治软肋的卫生部门。
他与肯尼迪或“让美国再次健康”运动没有明确关联，特朗普曾称赞该运动助力其2024年总统大选获胜，但随着政府在11月中期选举前重新调整立场，该运动的影响力近来有所减弱。
离开政府后，夏普利斯联合创立了一家投资生物技术公司的风险投资基金。他一直是北卡罗来纳大学医学院的教授。在此期间，他签署了一封反对FDA近期部分疫苗政策修改计划的信件。
“我们对FDA关于疫苗安全性的全面新声明以及可能破坏旨在确保疫苗在公众最需要时安全、有效且可获得的监管模式的提案深表担忧，”夏普利斯和其他十二位前FDA负责人在去年12月写道，称这些修改是“FDA一系列令人不安的变化中的最新一例”。
这位肿瘤学家是特朗普政府卫生官员讨论的几位候选人之一，知情人士警告称，遴选过程仍在进行中。高级官员曾希望在本月上半年向特朗普提交推荐人选，但随着他们继续筛选候选人，这一时间表可能会推迟。
夏普利斯未回复置评请求。
卫生与公众服务部发言人安德鲁·尼克松表示，政府“正在审查大量有意担任卫生与公众服务部关键领导职位的高素质候选人，包括FDA局长一职。重点仍是寻找能够加强机构运营、继续推进重大改革并维护公众信任的经验丰富的领导人。”
另一个表明“让美国再次健康”运动对人事决策控制力减弱的迹象是，参与FDA局长遴选的特朗普政府卫生官员还将目光投向了长期任职的制药高管理查德·波普斯，三位知情人士透露。
肯尼迪和“让美国再次健康”运动经常将制药行业视为美国医疗体系内的腐败力量。
波普斯将于今年晚些时候辞去阿尔凯姆斯制药公司首席执行官一职，他在制药行业内是一位广受认可的人物，该行业曾与近期被解职的FDA局长马蒂·马卡里就机构的药品审批流程多次发生冲突。
阿尔凯姆斯未回复置评请求。
与此同时，多位接近政府的人士敦促特朗普政府官员任命代理FDA局长凯尔·迪亚曼塔斯为永久人选，认为这将是实现机构稳定的最简路径。
迪亚曼塔斯是FDA负责食品事务的最高官员，在三周前接任代理局长后给机构内外的官员留下了深刻印象，并因推动鼓励更健康饮食的政策而在“让美国再次健康”运动中保持了公信力。
但据一些知情人士透露，迪亚曼塔斯在药品问题上经验匮乏，这可能会削弱他的参选机会，因为特朗普一直致力于宣扬其降低药品成本的举措，而中期选举正是关键节点。
这场范围广泛的遴选在卫生与公众服务部和白宫部分部门中被列为高度优先事项，因为官员们试图填补该部门的关键空缺，该部门正应对多重公共卫生威胁，同时推进被视为特朗普负担得起的医疗议程核心的举措。
今年早些时候，白宫对肯尼迪的高级领导团队进行了改组，以期改善运营并减少过去一年中令特朗普助手和部分共和党议员沮丧的信息失误。
官员们还鼓励背离肯尼迪最具争议的优先事项，淡化他不受民众欢迎的全面改革疫苗政策的尝试，转而采用更受广泛支持的、聚焦降低医疗成本的言论。
此后，白宫选择了更传统的候选人填补卫生与公众服务部的高层职位。今年4月，特朗普提名公共卫生资深人士、疫苗支持者埃丽卡·施瓦茨担任疾病控制和预防中心主任。
随后，特朗普政府撤回了作为外科局长提名的凯西·米恩斯，她是肯尼迪的亲密盟友，因为当时明显无法获得确认。取而代之的是福克斯新闻撰稿人妮可·萨皮尔博士。萨皮尔此前与肯尼迪并无交集，且曾批评他及其部分政策。
上个月，马卡里成为最新一位离职的高级卫生官员，此前明显可见他已失去白宫的支持，并疏远了共和党和医疗行业的关键派系。
随后，多位马卡里的盟友辞职或被解雇，加剧了该机构的高层空缺，该机构此前已遭受数月的人员流动、裁员和政策决策内斗。
高级卫生官员此后迅速寻求填补这些职位，寻找能够立即获得FDA员工和广大公众信任的候选人。
尽管他们的遴选范围远远超出了“让美国再次健康”运动，但知情人士表示，仍可能难以选出同时获得肯尼迪和特朗普认可的FDA局长人选，并在参议院迅速获得确认——当前参议院席位分配紧密，越来越多的共和党议员表现出反对政府的意愿。
多位共和党议员已敦促FDA限制堕胎药米非司酮的获取途径，推翻拜登时代允许通过邮寄方式开具处方的规定。马卡里对FDA是否或何时会做出这些修改态度暧昧，这引发了反堕胎倡导者的批评，他们最终为他的离职感到高兴。
这对他的继任者而言也可能是一个棘手的共和党考验。2023年，夏普利斯与其他六位FDA局长和代理局长联名辩称，FDA在放宽米非司酮获取途径时做出了合理、科学的决策。
与此同时，迪亚曼塔斯在被任命为代理局长后迅速采取行动，平息反堕胎倡导者对他在米非司酮问题上的立场以及此前在一场财产纠纷中为计划生育协会辩护的工作的担忧。
含蓄承认前路艰难，卫生与公众服务部已采取措施加强与可能成为确认特朗普新卫生官员提名关键的共和党参议员的联系，包括负责推进该部门提名的委员会主席比尔·卡西迪参议员。
卡西迪数月来一直与肯尼迪意见不合，且在特朗普支持竞争对手后输掉了初选。特朗普公开庆祝卡西迪的失败，在社交媒体上写道：“很高兴看到他的政治生涯结束了！”
但据两位知情人士透露，在那之后不久，肯尼迪的首席顾问克里斯·克朗普安排了与这位路易斯安那州参议员的私下会面，此事此前未被报道。
其中一位知情人士表示，这次会面的总体目标之一是缓和紧张关系，为该部门即将到来的提名铺平道路。
Trump admin vetting critic of RFK vaccine policies for FDA chief, sources say
2026-06-04T21:58:12.996Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/04/politics/trump-fda-ned-sharpless-maha-rfk
- The Trump administration is considering Dr. Norman Sharpless, an oncologist who served as a health official in Trump’s first term, to lead the FDA.
- Sharpless has opposed changes to vaccine safety regulations championed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary and a proponent of the Make American Healthy Again movement.
- Sharpless and others being under consideration for FDA head reflect a shift away from the MAHA movement as the White House seeks conventional leaders ahead of midterm elections.
AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.
The Trump administration is vetting a first-term health official to lead the Food and Drug Administration who has criticized vaccine policies championed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Dr. Norman “Ned” Sharpless, who ran the National Cancer Institute during President Donald Trump’s first term, is one of a handful of outside candidates under consideration for the permanent job, four people familiar with the matter said.
Sharpless won broad praise for his work at NCI, which he led for the entirety of the Trump administration and part of the Biden administration before leaving government in 2022.
He also served briefly as Trump’s acting FDA commissioner in 2019 — a seven-month stint that could prove valuable for senior Trump officials trying to stabilize the embattled agency after months of upheaval, the people familiar with the situation said.
That Sharpless is being considered to run the FDA is the latest sign of the administration’s willingness to spurn the “Make America Healthy Again” movement in favor of more conventional leaders it believes can shore up a health department now seen as a political weakness for the GOP.
He has no clear ties to Kennedy or the MAHA movement, which Trump credited with aiding his 2024 presidential win — but that has more recently seen its influence wane as the administration repositions ahead of November’s midterms.
Since leaving government, Sharpless co-founded a venture capital fund that invests in biotechnology companies. He has been a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.While there, he signed onto a letter opposing planned changes to some of the FDA’s recent vaccine policies.
“We are deeply concerned by sweeping new FDA assertions about vaccine safety and proposals that would undermine a regulatory model designed to ensure that vaccines are safe, effective, and available when the public needs them most,” Sharpless and a dozen other former FDA leaders wrote last December, calling them “the latest in a series of troubling changes at the FDA.”
The oncologist is one of several candidates that Trump health officials have discussed, and the people familiar with the matter cautioned that the search process is still ongoing. Senior officials had hoped to submit a recommended nominee to Trump in the first half of this month, though that timeline may slip as they continue to sift through candidates.
Sharpless did not respond to a request for comment.
HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the administration “is reviewing a large pool of highly qualified candidates interested in serving in key leadership roles across HHS, including the FDA. The focus remains on experienced leaders who can strengthen agency operations, continue advancing significant reforms, and maintain public trust.”
In another indication of MAHA’s loosening grip on personnel decisions, Trump health officials involved in the FDA commissioner search have also eyed longtime pharmaceutical executive Richard Pops, three of the people familiar with the matter said.
Kennedy and the MAHA movement have frequently targeted the industry as a corrupting force within the nation’s health system.
Pops, who is set to step down as CEO of Alkermes, a drug company, later this summer, is a well-regarded figure within the pharmaceutical industry, which clashed frequently with Marty Makary, the recently-ousted FDA commissioner, over the agency’s drug approval process.
Alkermes did not respond to a request for comment.
Several people close to the administration, in meantime, have pressed Trump officials to make acting FDA commissioner Kyle Diamantas the permanent nominee, arguing that this would be the simplest path toward stability at the agency.
Diamantas, the FDA’s top food executive, has impressed officials inside and outside the agency since taking over as acting chief three weeks ago and retains credibility within the MAHA movement for his efforts to advance policies to encourage healthier eating.
But Diamantas has scant experience on drug issues, which could undercut his chances ahead of a midterm where Trump has sought to tout his efforts to lower the cost of medicines, according to some of the people familiar with the search.
The wide-ranging search has taken on a high priority within HHS and parts of the White House, as officials try to plug key vacancies within a department juggling multiple public health threats alongside initiatives viewed as core to Trump’s affordability agenda.
Earlier this year, the White House oversaw a shakeup of Kennedy’s senior leadership team in hopes of improving operations and cutting down on messaging missteps that had frustrated Trump aides and some GOP lawmakers over the last year.
Officials have also encouraged a shift away from Kennedy’s most controversial priorities, downplaying his politically unpopular attempts to overhaul vaccine policies in favor of wider-appeal rhetoric focused on lowering health care costs.
The White House has since chosen more conventional candidates to fill HHS’ top ranks. In April, Trump nominated public health veteran and vaccine supporter Erica Schwartz to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The White House then dropped Casey Means, a close Kennedy ally, as surgeon general nominee after it became clear she couldn’t be confirmed. Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier has been picked instead. Saphier had no prior relationship with Kennedy and a history of criticizing him and some of his policies.
Last month, Makary became the latest top health official to leave the administration, after it became clear he’d lost support within the White House and alienated key factions of the Republican Party and health care industry.
Several Makary allies subsequently stepped down or were fired, creating more high-level vacancies within an agency that had already suffered months of turnover, staffing cuts and infighting over policy decisions.
Senior health officials have since sought to fill those roles quickly, seeking candidates who can command instant credibility with FDA staff and the broader public.
Yet even as they cast a net that extends well beyond the MAHA movement, the people familiar with the search said it could still prove challenging to settle on a pick for FDA commissioner with the attributes needed to win both Kennedy and Trump’s approval — and speed through confirmation in a closely divided Senate where an expanding group of GOP lawmakers have shown a willingness to buck the administration.
Several Republican senators have pressed the FDA to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone by reversing a Biden-era change that allowed prescriptions to be sent through the mail. Makary was noncommittal about if or when the FDA would make those changes, fueling criticism from anti-abortion advocates who eventually celebrated his departure.
It could prove a tricky GOP litmus test for whoever succeeds him as well. Sharpless joined six other FDA commissioners and acting chiefs in 2023 to argue that the agency made sound, scientific decisions when easing access to mifepristone.
Diamantas, meanwhile, scrambled shortly after he was named acting commissioner to quell anti-abortion advocates’ concerns about his stance on mifepristone and prior work defending Planned Parenthood in a property dispute.
In a tacit acknowledgement of that difficult path ahead, HHS has taken steps to strengthen ties with GOP senators who might be key to confirming Trump’s new health nominees — including Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs the committee responsible for advancing the department’s picks.
Cassidy has been at odds with Kennedy for months, and lost his primary race after Trump endorsed a rival candidate. Trump publicly celebrated Cassidy’s defeat, writing on social media: “It’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!”
But shortly afterward, Kennedy’s chief counselor, Chris Klomp, arranged a private meeting with the Louisiana senator, said two people familiar with the previously unreported episode.
Among the overarching goals, said one of those people: To thaw tensions and try to smooth the path ahead for the department’s forthcoming nominees.