Overview

Gender

male

Dr. von Eschenbach served as Commissioner of the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration from 2005 until 2009 where he engaged an agenda to modernize the FDA.

Under his leadership, many new programs were designed to strengthen the FDA, including the establishment of a nanotechnology initiative.

He emphasized the FDA’s role in working with external partners to assure quality throughout the entire life cycle of the products it regulates while internally fostering, through process improvements, a regulatory pathway that is transparent and efficient while still rigorous and science led.

Currently, Dr. von Eschenbach serves as Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives at the Center for Health Transformation, founded by Newt Gingrich, and leads the 21st Century FDA Modernization Project.

Dr. von Eschenbach joined the FDA after serving for four years as Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health where he set an ambitious goal to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer by rapid acceleration and integration of the discovery-development-delivery continuum.

While at NCI, he committed resources to ensure the application to oncology of nanotechnology, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and other emerging technologies.

Dr. von Eschenbach entered government service after an outstanding career over three decades as a physician, surgeon, oncologist and executive that included numerous leadership roles from Chairman of the Department of Urologic Oncology to Executive Vice President and Chief Academic at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, an institution world renowned for the magnitude and excellence of its clinical and research cancer programs.

An internationally renowned cancer specialist and author of more than 200 scientific articles and studies, Dr. von Eschenbach has served in numerous leadership roles, including serving as one of the founding members of the National Dialogue on Cancer.

He has received numerous professional awards and honors.

In 2006, Dr. von Eschenbach was named one of Time magazine’s “100 most influential people to shape the world”, and in both 2007 and 2008, he was selected as one of the Modern Healthcare/Modern Physician’s “50 Most Powerful Physician Executives in Healthcare”.

Dr. von Eschenbach earned a B.S. from St. Joseph’s University in his native Philadelphia and his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.

He served as a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps.

After completing a residency in urologic surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, he was an instructor in urology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

He completed a Fellowship in Urologic Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.