Could Trump’s FDA pick be a positive for longevity?

Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary M.D., M.P.H. is big on prevention of chronic diseases and has long called for US healthcare reform and cost reduction.

US president-elect Donald Trump has revealed his nomination for FDA Commissioner is Johns Hopkins University surgeon and researcher Dr Martin A Makary. Widely regarded as one of the incoming president’s less controversial selections, the appointment also has potential implications for those working on solutions targeting aging and age-related diseases.

Makary is said to be supportive of Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump’s nominee for Health Secretary, and his mission to “end the chronic disease epidemic” – a message that will resonate well in the aging field. In September, Makary joined Kennedy in a roundtable on health and nutrition, where he criticized the US government for not prioritizing chronic diseases and food industry reform, saying that the country has “the most overmedicated, sickest population in the world and no one is talking about root causes.”

My take on this: Makary, author of the bestseller The Price We Pay, highlights the urgency of healthcare reform and cutting costs – core principles of the longevity movement.

In a statement about the nomination, Trump said that the FDA had “lost the trust of Americans, and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator” before going on to say that Makary would “restore FDA to the gold standard of scientific research, and cut the bureaucratic red tape at the agency to make sure Americans get the medical cures and treatments they deserve.”

Discover more about this milestone appointment HERE .

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