President Donald Trump has announced the nomination of Dr. Heidi Overton, a physician who opposes abortion and has appeared alongside the president during remarks containing unsubstantiated claims about vaccines, to serve as commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The announcement came on Wednesday via a post on Trump’s social media platform, in which he praised Overton as a “rockstar” in his administration and said she would collaborate with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Oz to speed up drug approvals, overhaul clinical trials, reduce medication prices, and deliver further “MAHA” wins.
The FDA oversees prescription drugs, medical devices, and much of the US food supply, and it has been unsettled during Trump’s second term by widespread job cuts and disease outbreaks. If confirmed, Overton would also take charge of an agency that regulates mifepristone, a drug central to medication abortion and an important access point for the 23 million women living in states with abortion bans. In a 2023 policy brief, she described mifepristone as “teleabortion” and “abortion-on-demand,” calling on Congress to regulate it strictly “to protect women and children.”
Overton recently joined Trump as he signed an executive order proposing a study into splitting the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine into separate shots. The American Academy of Pediatrics called the order “disheartening” and “dangerous,” and health experts say it could create confusion about vaccinations while the US faces its worst measles outbreak in three decades. Overton argued that parents should be informed about timing and able to choose separate shots, while Trump repeated unproven assertions that the change could affect autism rates, despite research showing no such link.
She also criticized leaders in “blue states” for adhering to the American Academy of Pediatrics rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose vaccine advisory panel was fired by Kennedy. NBC News reported that Overton is Trump’s third pick for the FDA role, after acting commissioner Kyle Diamantas and Ohio Republican Bret Wenstrup were previously considered.