Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary commemorated one year as head of the country’s drug regulatory authority on Wednesday, saying he helped bring “healing” to the agency following cuts by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Throughout his remarks, he repeatedly discussed the staff at the FDA, where roughly 3,500 employees received Reduction In Force notices last year because of DOGE cuts. A significant portion of these RIF-ed staffers were subsequently brought back.
“I came to the FDA at a very tough time, immediately following the DOGE restructuring. While some of those changes made sense with consolidation of IT and procurement services and some of the shared services. It was a hard time for the agency, and I plan to acknowledge that with the staff today when I talk to them,” he said.
Makary said he convinced staffers considering retirement to stay on and got rid of plans for major reorganizations within the agency. He cited staffing reinstatements as having helped make “significant progress in healing.”
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