Patrizia Cavazzoni is the director of the

U.S. Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...

's (FDA)

Center for Drug Evaluation and Research The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER, pronounced "see'-der") is a division of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that monitors most drugs as defined in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Some biological products are also leg ...

(CDER). Prior to this position she worked at Pfizer and had been a psychiatrist

Education

Cavazzoni earned her medical degree from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

and subsequently was a fellow at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

. She then joined the University of Ottawa as an assistant professor before moving to the pharmaceutical industry, where she worked at

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

. She moved to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2018, and was named acting director of the

's (FDA)

in 2020 and director in 2021. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Cavazzoni has spoken publicly about the need for science to guide policies and about the future of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research after the

. She also noted that she would hand

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

a blank sheet of paper if asked to submit a list of workers who should not receive due process protections.

Research

While she worked at the Royal Ottawa Hospital, Cavazzoni examined the link between genetics and personality, and the chemicals implicated in brain chemistry. She further examined the connections between diabetes and patients receiving antipsychotic medications.

Selected publications

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Honors and awards

Cavazzoni received the

American College of Psychiatrists The American College of Psychiatrists is an American association of psychiatrists based in Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates ...

's Laughlin Fellowship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavazzoni, Patrizia Living people McGill University alumni Women physicians Food and Drug Administration people Year of birth missing (living people)