Pharmacy professor to chair FDA committee

Almut Winterstein, Ph.D.

A professor of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy at the UF College of Pharmacy has taken a bigger role in regulatory responsibility with her appointment as chair of an advisory committee for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Almut Winterstein, Ph.D., has been a member of the FDA Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee since 2011. In January, she assumed her new role to chair the committee, which advises the commissioner of food and drugs in areas of risk management, risk communication and evaluation of reports on drugs or products for human use. “Contributing my expertise in pharmacoepidemiology to regulatory decision-making about drug approval and withdrawal has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my career so far,” Winterstein said. The committee also lends its expertise in the scientific and medical evaluation of information related to safety, efficacy and the abuse potential of drugs or other substances regulated by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice, and makes recommendations regarding marketing, investigation and control.