David A. Kessler

{{Short description|American pediatrician & attorney (born 1951)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = David A. Kessler

| image = DavidAaronKesslerApr2009.jpg

| caption = Kessler in April 2009

| office = Head of Operation Warp Speed

| term_start = January 20, 2021

| term_end = February 24, 2021

| president = Joe Biden

| predecessor = Moncef Slaoui

| successor = Gustave F. Perna (Chief Operating Officer of COVID-19 Response for Vaccine and Therapeutics)

| office1 = Co-Chair of the COVID-19 Advisory Board

| alongside1 = Vivek Murthy and Marcella Nunez-Smith

| president1 =

| term_start1 = November 9, 2020

| term_end1 = January 20, 2021

| predecessor1 = Office established

| successor1 = Office abolished

| office2 = 16th Commissioner of Food and Drugs

| president2 = George H. W. Bush
Bill Clinton

| term_start2 = November 8, 1990

| term_end2 = February 28, 1997

| predecessor2 = Frank Young

| successor2 = Jane E. Henney

| birth_name = David Aaron Kessler

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|5|13}}

| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| education = Amherst College (BA)
University of Chicago (JD)
Harvard University (MD)

}}

David Aaron Kessler (born May 13, 1951) is an American pediatrician, attorney, author, and administrator (both academic and governmental) serving as Chief Science Officer of the White House COVID-19 Response Team since 2021.

Kessler was the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 8 November 1990 to 28 February 1997. He co-chaired the Biden-Harris transition’s COVID-19 Advisory Board from November 2020 to January 2021 and headed Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government program to accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments, from January to February 2021.{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/09/politics/biden-coronavirus-advisers-experts-rick-bright/index.html|title=Biden transition team announces coronavirus advisers, including whistleblower Rick Bright|last=Mucha|first=Sarah|date=November 9, 2020|work=CNN|access-date=9 November 2020}} {{Cite news|last=Kaplan|first=Sheila|date=January 15, 2021|title=Biden Picks Former F.D.A. Chief to Lead Federal Vaccine Efforts|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/health/covid-vaccine-kessler.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage|access-date=January 15, 2021}}

Background

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Freeport, New York, Kessler graduated in 1969 from Woodmere Academy (which has since been renamed as Lawrence Woodmere Academy.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-nassau-edition-resume-of-fda-c/166028829/ "Resume: Dr. David A. Kessler"], Newsday, June 9, 1991. Accessed February 17, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "Born May 31, 1951, in Brooklyn. Grew up in Freeport, attended the private Woodmere Academy."Bessen, Jeff. [https://www.liherald.com/stories/kessler-named-chief-science-officer-for-covid-vaccine-drive,129719 "Kessler named chief science officer for Covid vaccine drive"], Long Island Herald, January 15, 2021. Accessed February 17, 2025. "Kessler, 69, graduated from the Woodmere Academy in 1969, which merged with Lawrence Country Day School to form Lawrence Woodmere Academy in 1990." After graduation from Amherst College in 1973, Kessler studied medicine at Harvard University, obtaining an M.D. degree in 1979. While at Harvard, Kessler obtained a J.D. degree in 1977 from the University of Chicago Law School.{{cite web

| url = http://www.bio.org/events/2004/media/brunch/kessler.asp

| title = David A. Kessler, MD

| access-date = 2007-12-16

| date = 2004-06-14

| publisher = BIO (Annual International Convention) 2004 Newsroom |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222933/http://www.bio.org/events/2004/media/brunch/kessler.asp |archive-date = 2007-09-27}} While serving his residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, he worked as a consultant to Republican senator Orrin Hatch from Utah, particularly on issues relating to the safety of food additives, and on the regulation of cigarettes and tobacco. From 1984 to 1990, Kessler simultaneously ran a 431-bed teaching hospital in New York City and taught at the Columbia Law School and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

As FDA commissioner

Although his appointment as FDA commissioner in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush won bipartisan approval, many of Kessler's actions were controversial, and he soon became more popular with Democrats than Republicans. He moved quickly to make the agency more efficient, reducing the time needed to approve or reject new drugs, including AIDS drugs, and more vigilant in protecting consumers against unsafe products and inflated label claims. It was also on his watch that FDA enacted regulations requiring standardized Nutrition Facts labels on food. In 1991, he had {{Convert|24,000|gal}} of Citrus Hill orange juice seized because, although made from concentrate, it was labeled "fresh."{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/25/us/citing-labels-us-seizes-orange-juice.html?pagewanted=all|title=Citing Labels, U.S. Seizes Orange Juice|last=Leary|first=Warren E.|date=1991-04-25|work=The New York Times}} Kessler was reappointed to the post of FDA Commissioner during the administration of Bill Clinton.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/27/us/clinton-retains-bush-appointee-as-fda-chief.html|title=Clinton Retains Bush Appointee As F.D.A. Chief|last=Hilts|first=Philip J.|date=1993-02-27|work=The New York Times}}

Kessler is also known for his role in the FDA attempt to regulate cigarettes,{{cite book|title=A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle with a Deadly Industry|url=https://archive.org/details/questionofintent00kess|url-access=registration|last=Kessler|first=David A.|publisher=Public Affairs|year=2001|isbn=1-58648-121-5}} which resulted in the FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. case. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the FDA did not have the power to enact and enforce the regulations in question.{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/98-1152.ZS.html|title=FDA V. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp|website=Cornell University Law School}} He was awarded the Public Health Hero award on April 2, 2008, by the UC Berkeley School of Public Health for his work in tobacco regulation. Kessler published a book entitled A Question of Intent, which gave his view of his time at the FDA, focusing on his attempts to change tobacco legislation and the interpretation of that legislation, and his battle with the then-illegal, but still used Y1 strain of tobacco.

Kessler also oversaw the FDA-directed moratorium on silicone breast implant devices in 1992. This moratorium led to a deluge of lawsuits in the following months, many of which were filed prior to the federal judiciary's adoption of the Daubert standard for expert testimony in 1993. These lawsuits ultimately led to perhaps the largest settlement in the history of medical devices, Dow Corning's declaration of bankruptcy, and ongoing payments to individuals for conditions that have nothing to do with silicone. Scientific panels funded by three different government agencies conducted comprehensive assessments and later arrived independently at the same conclusion: that there was no connection between silicone gel implants and systemic disease.Independent Review Group, Silicone Breast Implants: The Report of the Independent Review Group 8 (July 1998).{{cite book |author1=Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Safety of Silicone Breast Implants |editor1-last=Bondurant |editor1-first=Stuart |editor2-last=Ernster |editor2-first=Virginia |editor3-last=Herdman |editor3-first=Roger |title=Safety of Silicone Breast Implants |date=1999 |publisher=National Academies Press (US) |location=Washington, DC |doi=10.17226/9602 |pmid=20669503 |isbn=978-0-309-15740-7 |url=https://www.nap.edu/catalog/9602/safety-of-silicone-breast-implants |access-date=8 December 2020 |language=en}}Diamond B, Hulka B, Kerkvliet N, Tugwell P, Silicone Breast Implants in Relation to Connective Tissue Diseases and Immunologic Dysfunction: A Report by a National Science Panel to the Honorable Sam C. Pointer Jr., Coordinating Judge for the Federal Breast Implant Multi-District Litigation. November 30, 1998. The FDA moratorium was lifted in 2006.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

After the FDA

File:DavidAaronKesslerGWU.JPG in October 2013]]

Kessler left the FDA to join the Yale School of Medicine as dean from 1997 to 2003. He was awarded the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 2001.{{cite web|title=Public Welfare Award |url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_pwm |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=18 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604024100/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_pwm |archive-date=June 4, 2011 }}

In 2003 he was recruited to a post as dean and vice-chancellor at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/c/a/2007/12/15/MNL5TV3C7.DTL|title=Recruited from Yale with money, gifts and promises|last=Schevitz|first=Tanya|date=2007-12-15|website=www.sfgate.com|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|page=A12|access-date=2007-12-16}}

After his arrival at UCSF, Kessler uncovered multiple spreadsheets for the same closed fiscal year (a year prior to his recruitment), all showing different revenue and expense numbers, but indicating that the dean's office was in deficit and would continue to be so, in direct contravention of what had been reported to him during his recruitment, evidence of, at best, inadequate financial controls. J. Michael Bishop, Chancellor of UCSF, stated UC audits found no evidence of financial irregularities and, in June 2007, Bishop demanded Kessler's resignation. On December 13, 2007, Kessler was formally dismissed. Bishop then acknowledged that the financial data presented to Kessler during his recruitment might have been misleading. Kessler alleged he was fired for whistleblowing.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/15/MNKETUEL3.DTL&tsp=1|title=UCSF medical school fires dean in dispute over finances|last=Russell|first=Sabin|date=2007-12-15|work=www.sfgate.com|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle}}{{cite web|url=http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/news/200712144.html|title=UCSF Issue Statement About Leadership Changes at UCSF School of Medicine|date=2007-12-14|website=UCSF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119133803/http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/news/200712144.html|archive-date=2008-01-19}}{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=Greg|date=2007-12-21|title=UNIVERSITIES: Questions Swirl Around Kessler's Abrupt Dismissal From UCSF|journal=Science|language=en|volume=318|issue=5858|pages=1855a|doi=10.1126/science.318.5858.1855a|pmid=18096782|s2cid=43580146|issn=0036-8075}}{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-ucsf15dec15,1,5127888.story?coll=la-news-science&ctrack=5&cset=true|title=UCSF dean is fired, cites whistle-blowing|work=Los Angeles Times}} Subsequent to Kessler's firing, after UCSF was pressured by KPMG to release one of the audits,{{cite news|url=http://sfgate.info/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/16/BACGUG3S8.DTL|title=UCSF Refuses to Release Outside Review of Finances|last1=Schevitz|first1=Tanya|date=January 16, 2008|work=San Francisco Chronicle|last2=Russell|first2=Sabin}}{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} it was revealed that Kessler had been correct.{{cite news|title=Audit Firm Sides With Ex-Dean of University of California-San Francisco Medical School|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|date=February 5, 2008|url=http://chronicle.com/news/article/3870/audit-firm-sides-with-ex-dean-of-u-of-california-san-francisco-medical-school}}

His 2009 book entitled The End of Overeating (a New York Times best seller), highlights for the consumer the amount of fat, salt, and sugar in their food intake. He asserts that this trio of elements in restaurant and processed foods conditions us to eat more, in a manner that changes our brain circuitry, and that children may develop a pattern of overeating and obesity that they might retain for life.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/26/AR2009042602711.html|title=Crave Man: David Kessler Knew That Some Foods Are Hard to Resist; Now He Knows Why|newspaper=The Washington Post}} He stresses that this outcome of lifelong obesity is not genetic, but environmental and avoidable.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

On November 9, 2020, Kessler was announced as one of the three co-chairs of president-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board, alongside former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and Yale public health professor Marcella Nunez-Smith.{{Cite web|last=Feuer|first=Will|date=2020-11-07|title=President-elect Joe Biden announces Covid task force|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/07/president-elect-joe-biden-to-announce-covid-task-force-on-monday.html|access-date=2020-11-09|website=CNBC|language=en|edition=article updated: 12:50 UCT 2020-11-09}} Days later, Kessler was named a candidate for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden Administration.{{cite news |title=Who Are Contenders for Biden's Cabinet? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/us/politics/biden-cabinet.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage |access-date=11 November 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=11 November 2020}} Kessler also served as chief medical adviser to the Biden Inaugural Committee, which organized Biden's 2021 presidential inauguration.{{cite news |title=Inauguration Day, From Home: Biden Team Plans Celebration Amid COVID-19|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2020/12/15/946721063/inauguration-day-from-home-biden-team-plans-celebration-amid-covid-19|access-date=16 December 2020 |work=NPR |date=15 December 2020}}

On January 15, 2021, the Biden administration announced that it had chosen Kessler to lead Operation Warp Speed, the program to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and other related treatment.

Selected publications

Kessler, David A., Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs: The Simple Truth About Food, Weight, and Disease (2020) {{ISBN|9780062996978}}
Kessler, David A., Capture: Unraveling the Mystery of Mental Suffering (2016) {{ISBN|9780062388513}}
Kessler, David A., Your Food Is Fooling You: How Your Brain Is Hijacked by Sugar, Fat, and Salt (2012) {{ISBN|9781596438316}} (A version of The End of Overeating aimed at teens)
Kessler, David A., The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite (2009) {{ISBN|1-60529-785-2}}
Kessler, David A., A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle with a Deadly Industry (2001) {{ISBN|1-891620-80-0}}
{{cite journal|last1=Kessler|first1=David A.|last2=Rose|first2=Janet L.|last3=Temple|first3=Robert J.|last4=Schapiro|first4=Renie|last5=Griffin|first5=Joseph P.|title=Therapeutic-Class Wars -- Drug Promotion in a Competitive Marketplace|journal=New England Journal of Medicine|volume=331|issue=20|year=1994|pages=1350–1353|issn=0028-4793|doi=10.1056/NEJM199411173312007|pmid=7935706|doi-access=free}}
Eisdorfer, Carl, David A. Kessler, and Abby N. Spector, eds. Caring for the Elderly: Reshaping Health Policy (1989) {{ISBN|978-0-8018-3810-1}}