Joshua Sharfstein

A native of Maryland, Sharfstein graduated from Harvard College in 1991. In the fall of 1992, he entered Harvard Medical School,{{citation |year=1992 |author=Torrey, E. Fuller |author-link=E. Fuller Torrey |author2=Stieber, Joan |author3=Ezekiel, Jonathan |author4=Wolfe, Sidney M |author-link4=Sidney M. Wolfe |author5=Sharfstein, Joshua |author6=Noble, John H |author7=Flynn, Laurie M |chapter=The Authors |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kR_t_xV5RJIC&q=criminalizing+%22the+authors%22&pg=PR3|title=Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Ill: The Abuse of Jails as Mental Hospitals |series=A joint report of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and Public Citizen's Health Research Group |page=iii|isbn=0-7881-4279-8

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kR_t_xV5RJIC&q=%22criminalizing+the+seriously+mentally+ill%22 |access-date=12 November 2010}} from where he graduated in 1996. He did his residency in pediatrics through a joint program at Boston Children's Hospital and Boston Medical Center, completing a special pediatrics fellowship with Boston University.

Sharfstein then left Boston for Washington, D. C., where he joined the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee and served as health policy advisor to Congressman Henry A. Waxman. Among the issues he worked on were HIV/AIDS, oversight of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), tobacco, and public health.[http://www.baltimorehealth.org/commissioner.html Biography of Dr. Joshua Sharfstein--City of Baltimore] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301113257/http://www.baltimorehealth.org/commissioner.html |date=March 1, 2009 }}

After the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, Sharfstein served as leader of the Obama transition team on the FDA. Media reports indicated he was a finalist to become FDA commissioner in the new administration,[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/17/AR2009021703177.html "Healthy Competition for Top FDA Post" Washington Post February 18, 2009] but instead he was appointed by President Obama in 2009 as Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA.{{Cite web |url=https://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CommissionersPage/ucm162062.htm |title=Principal Deputy Commissioner |website=Food and Drug Administration |access-date=2019-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110318230703/http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CommissionersPage/ucm162062.htm |archive-date=2011-03-18 |url-status=dead }}

Sharfstein, whose early work in politics included work for Public Citizen's Health Watch, has been a frequent critic of drug industry marketing practices—going all the way back to his days in medical training.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} During his time as public health commissioner of Baltimore, he led the effort to restrict the marketing of pediatric cold remedies.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

Sharfstein has also written articles criticizing the American Medical Association for its pattern of giving campaign contributions to political candidates that take stands the majority of physicians oppose. One of those articles focused on AMA donations to candidates and elected officials who have fought the regulation of tobacco—a position the medical community generally favors and that Sharfstein has advocated over the years.[https://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/12/11/who-is-joshua-sharfstein/ "Who is Joshua Sharfstein?" Wall Street Journal Health Blog][https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E6DA1E3EF935A35752C0A962958260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/A/American%20Medical%20Association "A.M.A. Found to Donate More to Foes of Its Views" New York Times, January 6, 1994]

Although Sharfstein's candidacy for a top FDA post raised concerns among some special interest groups—the Wall Street Journal reported on an "Anybody But Sharfstein" memo placed in circulation, apparently at the behest of drug companies.[https://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/12/18/advocates-for-new-fda-chief-overlook-independence-from-industry/ "Advocates for new FDA chief overlook independence from industry Wall Street Journal Health Blog] He has also come under the ire of anti-vaccine groups{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} because, consistent with the advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the vast majority of medical professionals,{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} he has been an ardent supporter of vaccines as an essential part of public health.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

Both of Sharfstein's parents are physicians.[http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/politics/bal-te.sharfstein16dec16,0,5137442.story "Sharfstein is favorite son for FDA post," Baltimore Sun]{{dead link|date=September 2014}} His father Steven Sharfstein is a former president of the American Psychiatric Association.

After less than two years on the job, FDA deputy commissioner Josh Sharfstein left the agency to become the Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene in Maryland.{{cite web |url=http://www.pharmalot.com/2011/01/josh-sharfstein-to-resign-from-the-fda/ |title=Josh Sharfstein to Resign from the FDA // Pharmalot |access-date=2011-01-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913040725/http://www.pharmalot.com/2011/01/josh-sharfstein-to-resign-from-the-fda/ |archive-date=2012-09-13 }} In 2014, Sharfstein announced that he would leave his position as secretary of the Maryland state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to become associate Dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.{{cite news|last1=Cohn|first1=Meredith|title=Health Secretary Sharfstein to join Hopkins|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2014/07/30/health-secretary-sharfstein-to-join-hopkins/|access-date=27 April 2015|publisher=Baltimore Sun|date=30 July 2014}} Sharfstein currently hosts the Bloomberg School of Public Health podcast, Public Health on Call.{{cite web |url=https://johnshopkinssph.libsyn.com/|title=Public Health On Call|access-date= January 11, 2022}}

• {{citation |year=1992 |author=Torrey, E. Fuller |author-link=E. Fuller Torrey |author2=Stieber, Joan |author3=Ezekiel, Jonathan |author4=Wolfe, Sidney M |author-link4=Sidney M. Wolfe |author5=Sharfstein, Joshua |author6=Noble, John H |author7=Flynn, Laurie M |title=Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Ill: The Abuse of Jails as Mental Hospitals |series=A joint report of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and Public Citizen's Health Research Group |isbn=0-7881-4279-8

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kR_t_xV5RJIC&q=%22criminalizing+the+seriously+mentally+ill%22 |access-date=12 November 2010}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/16dhmh/former/html/msa15523.html Joshua M. Sharfstein, M.D., Secretary of Health & Mental Hygiene-Department of Health & Mental Hygiene-Maryland Manual On-Line]
• [https://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/12/11/who-is-joshua-sharfstein/ "Who is Joshua Sharfstein?" Wall Street Journal Health Blog]
• [https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2018/03/osler-medical-symposium-kicks-off-lineup-with-public-health-panel "Baltimore in the 21st Century: A Commissioner's Perspective" Johns Hopkins News-Letter coverage of the Osler Medical Symposium]
• {{C-SPAN|78305}}

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Category:1969 births

Category:Living people

Category:Physicians from Baltimore

Category:State cabinet secretaries of Maryland

Category:Harvard Medical School alumni

Category:Food and Drug Administration people

Category:Obama administration personnel

Category:Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty

Category:Harvard College alumni

Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine

Category:20th-century American physicians

Category:21st-century American physicians