FDA center director change

Center for Devices & Radiological Health Director Bruce Burlington, MD, will leave in mid-March to join Wyeth-Ayerst Labs as senior VP regulatory affairs. Burlington has headed CDRH since 1993. From 1988-1993, he was Office of Drug Evaluation II deputy director in the Center for Drug Evaluation & Research. Burlington, an 18-year FDA veteran, is the latest in a series of departures of experienced personnel from the agency. His departure suggests center directorships may not be as stable under FDA Commissioner Jane Henney, MD, as was expected. During the confirmation process, Henney noted she had recruited five of the six current center directors, including Burlington, during her previous tenure as deputy commissioner for operations. He served as acting director of the Office of Generic Drugs in 1989-1990 and started at FDA in the Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research in 1981