New food-protection position filled af FDA

WASHINGTON — Dr. David Acheson was appointed assistant commissioner for Food Protection, a newly created role within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide advice and counsel on food-safety and food-defense issues.

Acheson, MD, FRCP, was chief medical officer for the Office of Food Defense, Communication and Emergency Response at the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). He began serving in his new role immediately.

Acheson will work with individual pro duct centers and the Office of Regulatory Affairs, and will be FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach's liaison to the Department of Health and Human Services and to other departments and agencies on food-safety and food-defense initiatives.

Acheson will develop an agency-wide strategy for food safety and food defense that identifies current and future challenges and opportunities.

"The protection of America's food supply, and therefore the safety of Americans in eating food of domestic or international origin, is of utmost importance to me as a physician, and to the mission of this agency," von Eschenbach says.

A graduate of the University of London Medical School in the United Kingdom, Acheson is trained in internal medicine and infectious disease and has held several research and academic positions, including associate professor at the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore and associate professor at Tufts University.