George Washington University professor appointed senior adviser to FDA commissioner

ROCKVILLE, Md. A research professor from George Washington University will become senior adviser to Food and Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg, the agency announced Tuesday.

The FDA appointed food safety specialist Michael Taylor, whose duties as adviser to Hamburg will include helping to develop the FDA’s budget request for fiscal year 2011 and plans for allocating resources for fiscal year 2010 and plan implementation of new food safety legislation.

“I am pleased to welcome Mike Taylor back to the FDA,” Hamburg said in a statement. “His expertise and leadership on food safety issues will help the agency to develop and implement the prevention-based strategy we need to ensure the safety of the food we eat.”

Taylor previously began working as a litigating attorney for the FDA in 1976, serving as deputy commissioner for policy from 1991 to 1994 and as administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture from 1994 to 1996.

“I am honored and grateful that commissioner Hamburg has asked me to return to the FDA in the position of senior adviser to the commissioner,” Taylor said.