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Why Physicians Should Pay Attention to the FDA
Session Overview
Our upcoming virtual event will explore why today’s clinicians need to stay informed about FDA actions, and how regulatory decisions directly influence clinical practice and patient care. The session will examine the growing controversy surrounding industry-aligned “expert panels” FDA-appointed groups that can be used instead of traditional Advisory Committees, FDA appointed groups that have recently been used in place of Advisory Committees, and how these groups can shape public perception and clinical decisions.
The event will also address timely questions around direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug marketing and what clinicians should understand about how these promotions influence patient expectations.
Join us to gain a sharper understanding of how FDA oversight intersects with patient safety and the everyday realities of clinical practice.
Session Takeaways:
- Assess the impact of FDA oversight on clinical practice and patient safety, fostering a critical perspective on regulatory guidance and emerging controversies.
- Understand the role of FDA leadership appointed expert panels and how they can influence clinical decision-making and public perception in place of traditional Advisory Committees.
- Recognize key issues in direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug marketing and how promotional strategies affect patient expectations and interactions with clinicians.
How to Attend
📅 Date: Thursday, December 18, 2025
🕗 Time: 8:00 – 9:00 PM ET
📍 Location: Live Stream Event
🔗 Registration: Click here to register
About the Advocacy Grand Rounds
The purpose of our Advocacy Grand Rounds series is to provide physicians, medical trainees, and other health care professionals in our network with monthly trainings and courses to supplement their advocacy efforts. Members have the opportunity to obtain CME credits for specially accredited 1-hour events.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from leaders in healthcare advocacy and to begin integrating electoral advocacy into your professional journey!
Speaker: Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD
Adriane Fugh-Berman MD is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology and in the Department of Family Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, where she teaches graduate and medical students about evidence-based medicine and critical assessment of drugs and other therapeutics. As director of PharmedOut, a project at GUMC that promotes rational prescribing and exposes the effect of pharmaceutical marketing on prescribing practices, Dr. Fugh-Berman leads a team of volunteer professionals that has had a profound impact on prescribers’ perceptions of the adverse consequences of industry marketing.
Dr. Fugh-Berman has authored many key articles in peer-reviewed literature on the area of physician-industry relationships and conflicts of interest, including an article about how industry uses social psychology to manipulate physicians, an exposé of how ghostwritten articles in the medical literature were used to sell menopausal hormone therapy, an analysis of how “key opinion leaders” are used to market drugs off-label, an explanation of drug rep tactics, a discussion of prescription tracking, a description of industry publication planning, an article on conflicts of interest in basic sciences and a national survey of industry interactions with family medicine residencies. A study in the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions documents the effect of Why Lunch Matters, a presentation that is the first to document a significant change in physicians’ perceptions about their own individual vulnerability to pharmaceutical marketing. Dr. Fugh-Berman lectures internationally and has appeared on every major television network.
Previously, Dr. Fugh-Berman was a medical officer in the Contraception and Reproductive Health Branch of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, NIH. She has also worked with the nonprofit Reproductive Toxicology Center and edited an award-winning CME newsletter on women’s health. Dr. Fugh-Berman graduated from Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed a family medicine internship in the Residency Program in Social Medicine at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx.
Disclosure: Dr. Fugh-Berman is a paid expert witness in litigation regarding pharmaceutical and medical device marketing practices.