FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Doctors for America
PO Box: 21161
2300 18th St NW Lbby
Washington, DC 20009-9996
February 19, 2025
Doctors for America’s FDA Task Force Denounces Mass Public Health Firings
Washington, D.C.: Doctors for America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Task Force strongly condemns the Trump administration’s decision to lay off thousands of our nation’s public health civil servants at FDA and across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). These arbitrary staff reductions are dangerous and will lead to significant setbacks in U.S. medical innovation, timely patient access to new medical products, and public safety.
The FDA’s workforce is critical to its mission of safeguarding public health. Cuts of this magnitude undermine the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission and wreak havoc on the programs designed to keep Americans safe. The FDA staff fired last weekend included individuals working on a wide range of critical initiatives including the approval of medical devices, regulation of artificial intelligence in health care, inspection of pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, and the review of clinical trial data on safety and efficacy. Notably, among those fired were senior officials including the director of the Office of Product Evaluation and Quality within FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, responsible for overseeing medical device safety.
As physicians, we rely on the rigorous scientific review from the FDA to inform the decisions we make when treating our patients. FDA’s critical functions of surveilling drugs, devices, and other medical products after approval provide us as prescribers further reassurance that our patients will receive treatments that not only work but are also safe. Without these longstanding safeguards that are made possible through appropriate FDA staffing, we are concerned that patients’ lives and health will be at risk.
Public health should never be compromised for political gain. DFA’s FDA Task Force is calling on Congress to put patients over politics and intervene in this drastic overreach of executive powers.
For press inquiries and to speak more on this issue with members of the Doctors for America FDA Task Force please contact Alli Everton with Continuum Health Group ([email protected]).
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About Doctors for America:
Doctors for America mobilizes doctors and medical students to be leaders in putting patients over politics to improve the health of our patients, communities, and nation. DFA is an organization of over 27,000 physician and medical student advocates in all 50 states, representing all areas of specialization. DFA teaches physicians and medical students advocacy skills and does advocacy at a state and federal level. Our impact areas focus on access to affordable care, community health and prevention, and health justice and equity. DFA focuses solely on what is best for our patients, not on the business side of medicine, and does not accept any funding from pharmaceutical or medical device companies, which uniquely positions DFA as the organization that puts patients over politics and patients over profits. Find out more at doctorsforamerica.org and on Twitter drsforamerica or Bluesky drsforamerica.bsky.social.
