Margaret Hamburg Biography
Margaret Hamburg is an American physician and public health administrator born on 12th July 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. She serves as the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Before she served as the 21st Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from May 2009 to April 2015.
Margaret Hamburg Age
Margaret Hamburg was born on July 12, 1955 (he is 63 years old as of 2018)
Margaret Hamburg Net worth
Margaret Hamburg has an estimated net worth of $3 million.
Margaret Hamburg Family
Margaret Hamburg was born to Beatrix Hamburg (mother) and David A. Hamburg (father) who are both physicians. Her father is the President of Emeritus and Carnegie Corporation of New York and he also served as the president of the AAAS in 1984.
Margaret Hamburg Education
Margaret Hamburg graduated from Harvard College in 1977, she earned her M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School in 1983. She completed her medical training at the New York Hospital in Cornell Medical Center which is Board Certified in Internal Medicine.
Margaret Hamburg Husband
Margaret Hamburg is married to Peter Fitzhugh Brown a computer scientist and artificial intelligence expert. Her husband is the co-Chief Executive of Renaissance Technologies. The couples were blessed with two children Rachel Ann Hamburg Brown
(Daughter) and Evan David Addison Brown.
Margaret Hamburg Physician
Margaret Hamburg has specialised in clinical medicine in various medical centres. After her complition ni medicine she was appointed as Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Medicine. In December 2016, she was named the president for AAAS. She serves for three year term as an officer and member of the Executive Committee of the AAAS Board of Directors in February 2017. During her medical training she moved to Washington, D.C, where she began her medical career in the public service. She served as Assistant Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.
In 1991 she was appointed as a Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she served for six years, working for Mayor David Dinkins and Mayor Rudy Giuliani. During her time she worked on an improved services for women and children, a needle-exchange program to reduce HIV transmission, a program to curtail the resurgence and spread of tuberculosis, and the nation’s first public health bioterrorism preparedness program. In 1997 she was appointed by President Bill Clinton as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
She served in this policy role until 2001 when she became the founding Vice President for Biological Programs and later the Senior Scientist for the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a foundation dedicated to reducing the threat to public safety from nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. In that role, Hamburg spearheaded efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to both naturally occurring and deliberately caused biological threats.
Margaret Hamburg FDA
Margaret Hamburg was nominated by President Barack Obama in March 2009 to become Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and she was confirmed in May 2009. As FDA Commissioner she was known for advancing regulatory science, streamlining and modernizing FDA’s regulatory pathways, and globalization of the agency, as well as the implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009), the Food Safety Modernization Act (2011), and a review of the system for the evaluation and approval of medical devices. She served the longest term in as FDA commissioner since David A. Kessler, and was the second woman to hold the position. The Renaissance Technologies was the top donor to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Margaret Hamburg Awards
- National Consumers League’s Trumpeter Award in 2011.
- National Center for Health Research’s 2011 Health Research Policy Hero Award.
- American College of Clinical Pharmacology’s (ACCP) Nathaniel T. Kwit Memorial Distinguished Service Award.
- Radcliffe Alumnae Award.
- American Lung Association’s Breath of Life Award.
- Harvey W. Wiley Lecture Award for Outstanding Leadership in Advancing Public Health.
Margaret Hamburg Boards and Affiliations
Margaret Hamburg serves in a number of boards including the GAVI Alliance, Commonwealth Fund, Simons Foundation, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Urban Institute and the American Museum of Natural History. She is also a member of the Harvard University Global Advisory Council, the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows, the World Dementia Council and the Global Health Scientific Advisory Committee. In the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation she is the chairperson of joint Coordinating Group for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Initiative (CEPI). Hamburg formerly served on the Boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller University, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Conservation International and Henry Schein Inc.
Margaret Hamburg Monsanto
We write today to request a meeting with you concerning the labeling of genetically engineered foods in America. We are aware that representatives from the FDA have attended similar meetings with representatives from the chemical and processed food industries, and we deserve the opportunity to meet and discuss our concerns. We are willing to accommodate your busy schedule and can meet on the date and time of your choosing in May, June, or July. Upon confirmation from your office, we intend to invite business leaders in the organic food industry who share our concerns related to labeling of genetically engineered foods.
As you know, last year there were over one million signatures submitted to your agency asking you to require mandatory labels for foods produced using modern genetic engineering techniques. However, we still have not received a thorough reply from the FDA regarding this petition. We have reviewed the statements on the FDA website, and have concluded that instituting mandatory labels for genetically engineered foods is currently within your power and that such implementing such a policy does not require Congressional action.
Your failure to allay the concerns of American consumers and respond to the petition has resulted in growing distrust of your agency. We interpret the FDA’s resolve to ignore the people’s overwhelming support of mandatory GMO labeling as demonstrative of your true priority: protecting corporate interests, rather than protecting consumers’ safety and our fundamental right to transparency in food labeling. If the FDA is to regain the trust of American consumers you must demonstrate real action and commitment to introducing GMO labeling policy. Our proposed meeting is the crucial first step in beginning that process.
Consumers want the FDA to reject the purported authority of arbitrary biotechnology corporations as providers of safety studies. We demand independent tests conducted by the FDA or respected researchers at universities. Moreover, consumers are concerned that the existing body of safety studies are woefully incomplete and do not reflect the data recorded over the entire lifespan of animals fed genetically engineered foods.
The biotechnology industry says that there have been over 3 trillion meals served using genetically engineered ingredients without any health issues. We believe this statement is misleading; it is impossible to trace any health effects due to the consumption of genetically engineered foods when there are no mandatory labels on genetically engineered foods. Conversely, since genetically engineered foods entered the American food supply in the late 1990s, there has been a noticeable increase in diabetes, asthma, autism, cancer, and stomach maladies in America. Some concerned consumers believe this unfortunate increase is the direct result of consuming genetically engineered foods. This anecdotal evidence is not based on science. However, unless consumers are given the opportunity to choose between foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients and those that don’t, the anecdotal evidence will continue to yield further speculation on the dangers of consuming genetically engineered foods.