Oh, I'm serious! From
Planned Parenthood:
FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford has appointed a man who has spent the majority of his career in the office of veterinary medicine to the position of acting director of the Office of Women's Health at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Norris Alderson will replace Dr. Susan Wood, a key women's health expert, who resigned on August 31 in protest of the FDA's handling of the application to make Plan B emergency contraception (EC) available over the counter.
Oh, they're serious! His bio on the flip.
From a
Stanford event description:
Norris Alderson, Associate Commissioner for Science, FDA
Norris Alderson received a B.S. in Animal Husbandry from the University of Tennessee and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. He joined the FDA in 1971 as a reviewer in the Bureau of Veterinary Medicine (BVM). Beginning in 1980, he held a number of management positions in the BVM research organization culminating in the position of Director, Office of Research, Center for Veterinary Medicine, a position he held from 1988 to 2001. In July 2001, he became Acting Senior Advisor for Science, FDA, and Acting Director, Office of Science Coordination and Communication, responsible for the Office of Good Clinical Practice, the Counter Terrorism Staff, and the Science Coordination and Communication Staff. In May 2002, he was appointed Senior Associate Commissioner for Science, FDA and Director, Office of Science and Health Coordination. In November 2002, the position title was changed to Associate Commissioner for Science. In this position, his responsibilities include the Office of Orphan Products Development, the Office of Women's Health, the Office of Good Clinical Practice, the Science Coordination Staff, and standards coordination. Dr. Alderson retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 1997 with the rank of Colonel.
In other words, this man's formal education is in Animal Husbandry and he spent 30 of his 34 years in the real world working on Veterinary Medicine (that's almost 90%). And now he's the nations top official on (human) women's health.
Makes you feel safe, doesn't it!
Update [2005-9-18 21:33:57 by VirginiaDem]: As noted by a comment, the FDA has already corrected their error:
A few hours after the Food and Drug Administration posted on its Web site an announcement naming Dr. Norris E. Alderson, an expert in animal science, acting director of the Office of Women’s Health, the posting was replaced with an announcement naming Theresa A. Toigo to the post. The new new director is a career employee with a strong backgound in cancer and HIV/AIDS.
I guess Katrina has made otherwise big news fly under the radar recently?
Update [2005-9-18 21:52:5 by VirginiaDem]: Or did they?:
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Dr. Norris Alderson
Acting Director, Office of Women's Health
Associate Commissioner for Science
Food and Drug Administration
Parklawn Building, Room 14C06
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
301-827-3340 phone
301-827-3042 fax
E-mail: norris.alderson@fda.hhs.gov
(per comments)