Trump expected to pick conservative policy wonk Heidi Overton to lead FDA
Trump expected to pick conservative policy wonk Heidi Overton to lead FDA
特朗普预计将提名保守派政策专家海蒂·奥弗顿执掌美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）
President Trump is expected to nominate Heidi Overton, a top conservative policy aide, as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, according to multiple media reports. 据多家媒体报道，特朗普总统预计将提名保守派高级政策助手海蒂·奥弗顿（Heidi Overton）为下一任美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）局长。
Overton is currently the deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and has played a key role in shaping a variety of health policies during Trump’s second term. At times, she has notably angered members of the Make America Healthy Again movement, which was created by anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 奥弗顿目前担任白宫国内政策委员会副主任，在特朗普第二任期内，她在制定多项卫生政策方面发挥了关键作用。她有时会引起“让美国再次健康”（MAHA）运动成员的不满，该运动由反疫苗的卫生部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.）发起。
Overton has a medical degree from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and earned a doctoral degree in clinical investigation from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. While at Johns Hopkins, she worked with Marty Makary, the previous FDA commissioner who was ousted by Trump amid a cacophony of controversies. 奥弗顿拥有新墨西哥大学医学院的医学学位，并获得了约翰斯·霍普金斯大学彭博公共卫生学院的临床研究博士学位。在约翰斯·霍普金斯大学期间，她曾与前FDA局长马蒂·马卡里（Marty Makary）共事，后者在争议声中被特朗普解职。
Makary and his political appointees at the FDA sparked anger and criticism due to a string of dubious moves on drugs for rare diseases, frustrating patients and the pharmaceutical industry alike. He also earned the ire of the tobacco industry, public health advocates, anti-abortion groups, and a variety of federal officials. According to sources for The Wall Street Journal, Overton was a staunch defender of Makary during his time in the role. 马卡里及其在FDA任命的政治官员因在罕见病药物方面采取的一系列可疑举措而引发了愤怒和批评，令患者和制药行业感到沮丧。他还招致了烟草行业、公共卫生倡导者、反堕胎团体以及多位联邦官员的不满。据《华尔街日报》的消息来源称，在马卡里任职期间，奥弗顿曾是他坚定的捍卫者。
Prior to Overton’s current White House role, she worked on health policy for the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank previously helmed by Brooke Rollins, who now serves as Trump’s agriculture secretary. 在担任目前的白宫职务之前，奥弗顿曾在“美国优先政策研究所”（America First Policy Institute）从事卫生政策工作。该保守派智库此前由布鲁克·罗林斯（Brooke Rollins）领导，后者目前担任特朗普的农业部长。
Policy positions
政策立场
In terms of her policy positions, The New York Times highlights that Overton has written articles calling abortion “corrosive” to women and calling abortion pills “far more dangerous to women,” despite extensive data suggesting that abortion pills are extremely safe. Experts have noted that they are safer than taking Viagra or getting a colonoscopy and significantly safer than giving birth. Still, Overton’s position aligns with conservative efforts to get the FDA to restrict access to abortion pills. 在政策立场方面，《纽约时报》指出，奥弗顿曾撰文称堕胎对女性具有“腐蚀性”，并称堕胎药对女性“危险得多”，尽管大量数据表明堕胎药非常安全。专家指出，堕胎药比服用伟哥或进行结肠镜检查更安全，且比分娩安全得多。尽管如此，奥弗顿的立场与保守派试图促使FDA限制堕胎药获取的努力相一致。
On vaccines, Overton appeared with Trump last week as he signed a widely decried executive order calling for American children to get fewer vaccines, despite no evidence in support of the move but plenty indicating harm. Overton made comments that the administration would begin working directly with states to reduce vaccination recommendations. Trump’s order has no legal power to change vaccination requirements for schools, which are made at the state level. 在疫苗问题上，上周特朗普签署了一项备受抨击的行政命令，要求美国儿童减少接种疫苗，尽管没有证据支持这一举措，反而有大量证据表明其危害。奥弗顿在特朗普签署该命令时陪同出席，并表示政府将开始直接与各州合作，以减少疫苗接种建议。特朗普的命令在法律上无权改变学校的疫苗接种要求，因为这些要求是由各州制定的。
While Overton appears in line with Kennedy’s ardent anti-vaccine agenda, she seems wary of his unilateral push to ease access to peptide drugs, according to reporting from The Atlantic in July. Many popular peptide drugs have little to no data on their safety and efficacy but pose clear health risks. Peptides have become a fad among the MAHA crowd, with supplement hawkers and online influencers claiming, without evidence, that they provide a variety of benefits. 据《大西洋月刊》7月份的报道，虽然奥弗顿似乎与肯尼迪热衷的反疫苗议程保持一致，但她似乎对肯尼迪单方面推动放宽肽类药物获取限制的做法持谨慎态度。许多流行的肽类药物几乎没有安全性和有效性数据，却存在明显的健康风险。肽类药物已成为MAHA群体中的一种时尚，补充剂商贩和网络红人在没有证据的情况下声称它们能提供各种益处。
Kennedy has described himself as a “big fan,” and, as such, the FDA has begun a process to make them more accessible—over the objections of FDA career scientists. The Atlantic also reported that Overton pushed back on some aspects of Kennedy’s overhaul of dietary guidelines—which nutrition and health experts also criticized. She was also reportedly not in favor of the Trump administration’s moves to loosen marijuana regulations and promote psychedelics. 肯尼迪自称是肽类药物的“忠实粉丝”，因此，尽管遭到FDA职业科学家的反对，FDA还是启动了使其更容易获取的程序。《大西洋月刊》还报道称，奥弗顿对肯尼迪改革膳食指南的某些方面表示反对，这些改革也受到了营养和健康专家的批评。据报道，她也不支持特朗普政府放宽大麻监管和推广迷幻药的举措。
Once formally nominated, Overton needs Senate confirmation to assume the role. 一旦正式获得提名，奥弗顿需要经过参议院确认才能就职。