Andy Von Eschenbach

Dr. von Eschenbach currently serves as president of Samaritan Health Initiatives and as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. From September 2005 to January 2009, he served as commissioner of the U.S. FDA,

where he championed an agenda to modernize the FDA by process improvement of the regulatory pathway for drugs and medical devices and by fostering creative projects, including the FDA’s Critical Path Initiative. Under his leadership, the FDA experienced dramatic increases in resources enabling the implementation of many new programs designed to strengthen the FDA in its mission to protect and promote public health.

Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. von Eschenbach served as the director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and had an outstanding and award-recognized career over three decades as a physician, surgeon, oncologist, and executive. In 2006, Dr. von Eschenbach was named one of Time magazine’s “100 most influential people to shape the world.”