CDRH names Jacobson acting director

Just weeks after the Center for Devices and Radiological Health announced that Dr. Bruce Burlington would be leaving his post as director in March, the agency named Elizabeth Jacobson as acting director. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Jane Henney announced Burlington’s departure in January (SCAN 2/3/99) and appointed Jacobson as his temporary successor last month. Henney continues to seek a permanent replacement for the position.

Jacobson arrived at the FDA’s Bureau of Radiological Health in 1975 as a research geneticist. She has held several scientific and management posts at the Bureau and the CDRH, including director of the Office of Science and Technology and deputy director for science at the CDRH. Jacobson has served as acting director at the CDRH once before, from December 1992 to February 1993.

Jacobson will begin her tenure as acting director on March 13, when Burlington leaves for a new post as head of regulatory affairs at Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals in Philadelphia.