page_title: Stephen Hahn (oncologist)
section_title: U.S. Commissioner of Food and Drugs
hierarchical_section_title: Stephen Hahn (oncologist) / Career / U.S. Commissioner of Food and Drugs
caption_attribution_description: President Donald J. Trump listens as Dr. Stephen Hahn, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, delivers remarks at a coronavirus (COVID-19) update briefing Friday, April 24, 2020, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)
context_page_description: Stephen Michael Hahn is an American physician who has served as the Commissioner of Food and Drugs since December 2019. Before becoming Commissioner, he was a radiation oncologist serving as Chief Medical Executive of the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
context_section_description: On November 1, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Hahn to be Commissioner of Food and Drugs Administration. On December 3, 2019, the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee voted 18 to 5 in favor of Dr. Hahn leading the FDA. On December 12, 2019, the United States Senate confirmed his nomination by a 72–18 vote.  Hahn was sworn in on December 17, 2019.
  Hahn has factored prominently in the Trump administration's attempts to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the US, although the FDA under his administration has also been criticized for a lethargic response to the rapidly emerging outbreak in the United States.
  On March 1, 2020, Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced the addition of Hahn to the White House Coronavirus Taskforce.
  In April 2020, Hahn instructed Federal Emergency Management Administrator Peter Gaynor "to distribute hydroxychloroquine to pharmacies nationwide, even
  though [an Emergency Use Authorization issued by the FDA] did not provide for outpatient use of the drug," according to a whistleblower complaint filed by HHS infectious disease expert Rick Bright. Hydroxychloroquine was later linked to multiple deaths of COVID-19 patients.
  On July 5, 2020, Hahn refused to defend the claim by Donald Trump that 99% of coronavirus cases are "totally harmless," – contradicting contemporary understandings of the disease from both the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
caption: Hahn speaks to the White House press corps on the COVID-19 pandemic on April 24, 2020
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