Margaret Ann "Peggy" Hamburg (born July 12, 1955,

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

physician and public health administrator, who is serving as the chair of the board of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(AAAS) and co-chair of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). She served as the 21st Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from May 2009 to April 2015.

Early life and education

Hamburg is the daughter of Beatrix Hamburg and

David A. Hamburg David Allen Hamburg (October 1, 1925 – April 21, 2019) was an American psychiatrist. He served as president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York from 1982 to 1997. He also served as the President of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy ...

, both physicians. Her mother was the first self-identified African-American woman to be accepted at Vassar College and to earn a degree from the Yale University School of Medicine. Her father is President Emeritus of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and also served as the president of the AAAS in 1984. Hamburg graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

in 1977 and earned her M.D. from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is cons ...

in 1983. She completed her medical residency training at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. Hamburg is married to Peter Fitzhugh Brown, a computer scientist and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech ...

expert. The couple were married on May 23, 1992. Brown is the chief executive officer of Renaissance Technologies. Renaissance Technologies employees were collectively the top donors to President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and collectively the third largest donors to Hillary Clinton, giving $15.5 million and $16.5 million respectively. The couple has two children together. Hamburg was ranked on the list of ''The World's 100 Most Powerful Women'' three times—ranking 21st in 2011, 61st in 2012, and 59th in 2013.

Career

Following her medical training, Hamburg moved to Washington, D.C., to begin her career in

public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

. She served in several roles, beginning with a position in the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the US Department of Health and Human Services. She also worked as a clinical instructor for Georgetown University School of Medicine from 1986-1990. From May 1989 to May 1990, she worked as Assistant Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the lat ...

under Anthony Fauci. In this position, she participated in

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

policy development and research. In 1991 Hamburg was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she served for six years, working first for Mayor David Dinkins and then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. During her tenure, she worked on 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, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

appointed Hamburg as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

. 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 The Nuclear Threat Initiative, generally referred to as NTI, is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. The American foreign policy think tank was founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and describes itself as a "nonprofi ...

, a foundation created by

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he ...

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. She worked on reforms to reduce the dangers associated with modern bioterrorism and infectious diseases such as

pandemic influenza An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads across a large region (either multiple continents or worldwide) and infects a large proportion of the population. There have been six major influenza epidemics in the las ...

. In June 2001, Hamburg participated in the

Operation Dark Winter Operation Dark Winter was the code name for a senior-level bio-terrorist attack simulation conducted on June 22–23, 2001. It was designed to carry out a mock version of a covert and widespread smallpox attack on the United States. Tara O'Toole ...

exercise at

Andrews Air Force Base Andrews Air Force Base (Andrews AFB, AAFB) is the airfield portion of Joint Base Andrews, which is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force. In 2009, Andrews Air Force Base merged with Naval Air Facility Washington to form Joint Ba ...

simulating a bioterrorism event involving weaponized

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

. Hamburg is a member of the Medical Advisory Team for the Sidwell Friends School, where she also served on the board of trustees from 2004-2009. On July 13, 2005, she was announced as an advisor to the

Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies was established in 2005 as a partnership between the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The Project was intended to address the social, political, and public sa ...

by the

Pew Charitable Trusts The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in 1948. With over 6 billion in assets, its stated mission is to serve the public interest by "improving public policy, informing the public, a ...

and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Hamburg was nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

in March 2009 to become Commissioner of the

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 ...

, and was unanimously 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. Hamburg was the longest-serving FDA commissioner since David A. Kessler, as well as the second woman to hold the position. She served at the FDA until her resignation on March 28, 2015. During Hamburg's tenure at the FDA, the agency was criticized for speeding approvals at the expense of safety, while some industry voices indicated the pace was "justified." The FDA, under Hamburg's leadership approved 51 drugs in 2014 alone, which was noted as being "most in more than 20 years" to which Hamburg attributes to "innovative approaches."

National Academy of Medicine

In April 2015 Hamburg was appointed Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Medicine. In December 2016, Hamburg was named president-elect for the

. She served a three-year term as an officer and member of the Executive Committee of the AAAS Board of Directors beginning in February 2017. In 2018, she participated in the Clade X pandemic exercise that modelled a fictional parainfluenza bioterrorism attack designed to reduce the global population. She played the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services. The event was held by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Hamburg joined the board of directors for Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in 2018. In 2020, Hamburg participated in the strategic framework development for the Grand Challenge on Climate Change, Human Health, & Equity. Other notable participants included

Peter Daszak Peter Daszak is a British zoologist, consultant and public expert on disease ecology, in particular on zoonosis. He is the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit non-governmental organization that supports various programs on global health ...

of EcoHealth Alliance,

Jeremy Farrar Sir Jeremy James Farrar (born 1 September 1961) is a British medical researcher who has served as director of the Wellcome Trust since 2013 and will serve as chief scientist at the World Health Organization in 2023. He was previously a professo ...

of Wellcome Trust, and representatives from the

, Rockefeller Foundation, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, ExxonMobil,

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hon ...

, Burroughs Wellcome Fund,

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies ...

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equi ...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditi ...

, and numerous universities. Additionally, Hamburg was appointed by the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

to serve on its Independent Task Force on Improving Pandemic Preparedness, co-chaired by Sylvia Mathews Burwell and

Frances Fragos Townsend Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the F ...

. That year, she also served on the CSIS-

LSHTM The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The inst ...

High-Level Panel on Vaccine Confidence and Misinformation amid 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 identi ...

, co-chaired by

Heidi Larson Heidi J. Larson is an American anthropologist and the founding director of the Vaccine Confidence Project. Larson headed Global Immunisation Communication at UNICEF and she is the author of '' Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't G ...

and J. Stephen Morrison. Hamburg participated in a tabletop exercise at the March 2021 Munich Security Conference modelling a fictional international outbreak of

monkeypox Monkeypox (also called mpox by the WHO) is an infectious viral disease that can occur in humans and some other animals. Symptoms include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a rash that forms blisters and then crusts over. The time from exposu ...

. The exercise was led by the

and funded by

Open Philanthropy Open Philanthropy is a research and grantmaking foundation that makes grants based on the doctrine of effective altruism. It was founded as a partnership between GiveWell and Good Ventures. Its current co-chief executive officers are Holden ...

. In the exercise scenario, the hypothetical outbreak was set to begin on May 15, 2022. On May 18, 2022, a real confirmed case of monkeypox was reported in an American traveller who had recently travelled to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Awards and recognition

Hamburg is a Fellow of the

and the

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...

, as well as a member of the

and the National Academy of Medicine, where she now serves as Foreign Secretary. Hamburg has received numerous awards, among them the National Consumers League's Trumpeter Award in 2011 and the National Center for Health Research's 2011 Health Research Policy Hero Award. She has also received the American College of Clinical Pharmacology's (ACCP) Nathaniel T. Kwit Memorial Distinguished Service Award, the

New York Academy of Medicine The New York Academy of Medicine (the Academy) is a health policy and advocacy organization founded in 1847 by a group of leading New York metropolitan area physicians as a voice for the medical profession in medical practice and public health ...

Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Health Policy, the Radcliffe Alumnae Award and the American Lung Association's Breath of Life Award. Hamburg was the 2017 recipient of the FDAAA's Harvey W. Wiley Lecture Award for Outstanding Leadership in Advancing Public Health. She is a distinguished senior fellow with the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts policy ...

and holds several Honorary Degrees. ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' named her as one of the world's 100 most powerful women multiple times, most recently in 2014 (#51). In 2022, Hamburg was awarded the AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Prize which honors individuals' groundbreaking work in the areas of public service, scientific achievement or notable services to community.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, member of the board of directors (since 2018)

Non-profit organizations

* American Museum of Natural History, member of the board of trustees * AmfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, member of the board of directors (former) *

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

, member of the Global Health Scientific Advisory Committee * Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, commissioner *

Broad Institute The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (IPA: , pronunciation respelling: ), often referred to as the Broad Institute, is a biomedical and genomic research center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The insti ...

, member of the board of directors *

(CSIS), Member of the Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security (since 2017) * Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), chair of the Joint Coordinating Group *

Commonwealth Fund The Commonwealth Fund is a private U.S. foundation whose stated purpose is to "promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable, includ ...

, member of the board of directors * Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE), Duke–NUS Medical School, member of the advisory board * Department of Global Health,

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

, member of the external advisory board * GAVI Alliance, member of the board *

, member of the board of fellows *

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

, member of the global advisory council *

(NTI), member of the board of directors * Simons Foundation, member of the scientific advisory board for the Autism Research Initiative * Urban Institute, member of the board of trustees * Wellcome Trust, member of the Strategic Advisory Board on Vaccines and Drug-resistant Infections * World Dementia Council, member of the board Hamburg formerly served on the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller University, the

Nathan Cummings Foundation The Nathan Cummings Foundation was endowed by Nathan Cummings (1896–1985), founder of Consolidated Foods, later renamed Sara Lee. Cummings was also a prominent art collector and supporter of Jewish causes. In his lifetime, Cummings made ...

, Conservation International and Henry Schein Inc. She has participated as a member of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

's Intelligence Science Board. She is also a member of the National Advisory Council for the

COVID Collaborative Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. Hamburg is affiliated with the World Economic Forum. On April 6, 2021, she participated as a speaker at a WEF event titled "The Next Frontier: Synthetic Biology".

Legal issues

in 2016, Hamburg, her husband, along with Johnson & Johnson, among others were named in a lawsuit; th
complaint
alleging Dr. Hamburg, Renaissance Technologies, LLC conspired with Johnson & Johnson in suppressing safety information about the drug

Levaquin Levofloxacin, sold under the brand name Levaquin among others, is an antibiotic medication. It is used to treat a number of bacterial infections including acute bacterial sinusitis, pneumonia, H. pylori (in combination with other medications), ...

. The suit further states that "Obama administration appointee, former FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, is at the heart of this scandal..." who, with her husband "profited enormously" from J&J stock, the maker of Levaquin. The main arguments of the case are that (1) Hamburg, as FDA commissioner, had a conflict of interest with J&J as a result of her husband's firm's investments in the pharmaceutical firm; and (2) that Hamburg's work as FDA Commissioner benefitted J&J while hurting consumers due to safety problems with the drug Levaquin. The attorneys for the defense stated the lawsuit is "patently false, reckless and offensive." Complainants in the suit seek $800M in damages from the defendants, for "hiding side effects" of the drug. The suit, filed by

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

Larry Klayman Larry Elliot Klayman (born July 20, 1951) is an American attorney, right-wing activist, and former U.S. Justice Department prosecutor. He founded both Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch. In addition to his numerous lawsuits against the Clinton ad ...

, was dismissed in 2017 by a

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle (Washington, D.C.), Logan Circle, Jefferson Memoria ...

federal judge Federal judges are judges appointed by a federal level of government as opposed to the state/provincial/local level. United States A US federal judge is appointed by the US President and confirmed by the US Senate in accordance with Article 3 ...

Selected publications

* Hamburg MA. (2012)
Science and regulation: FDA's approach to regulation of products of nanotechnology.
Science. Vol. 336(6079):299-300 * Hamburg MA. (2010)
Shattuck lecture: Innovation, regulation, and the FDA. New England Journal of Medicine.
Vol. 363(23):2228-32 * Hamburg MA, Collins FS. (2010)
The path to personalized medicine. New England Journal of Medicine.
Vol. 363(4):301-4 * Hamburg MA, Sharfstein JM. (2009)
The FDA as a public health agency. New England Journal of Medicine.
Vol. 360(24):2493-5 * Hamburg, M.A., Levi, J., Elliott, K. and Williams, L. (2008)
Germs go global: why emerging infectious diseases are a threat to America.
Trust for America's Health * Hamburg, M.A. (2007)
Public health and China: emerging disease and challenges to health.
In: K.M. Campbell and W. Darsie (eds.). China's March on the 21st century: A Report of the Aspen Srategy Group. Washington DC: The Aspen Institute, pp 61–76 * Hamburg, M.A. (2002)
Bioterrorism: responding to an emerging threat. Trends in Biotechnology.
Vol. 20(7): 296-298 * Hamburg, M.A. (2002)
Preparing for and preventing bioterrorism. Issues in Science and Technology.
Vol. 18(2): 27-30 * Hamburg, M.A. (2001)
Challenges facing public health agencies.
Public Health Reports. Vol. 116(Supplement 2): 59-63 * Frieden, T.R., Fujiwara, P.I., Washko, R.M. and Hamburg, M.A. (1995
Turning the tide on tuberculosis: the New York City experience.
New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 333: 229-233 * Hamburg, M.A. and Frieden, T.R. (1994)
Tuberculosis transmission in the 1990s (editorial).
The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 330, No. 24: 1750-1751 * Hamburg, M.A. and Fauci, A.S. (Spring 1989)
AIDS: the challenge to biomedical research.
Deadalus, Vol. 118, No. 2: 19-39 * Hamburg, M. and Tallman, J.F. (1981)
Chronic morphine administration increases the apparent number of alpha-2 adrenergic receptors in rat brain.
Nature 291: 493-495 * Smolinski, M.S., Hamburg, M.A., and Lederberg, J., Editors (2003
Microbial Threats to Health: Emergence, Detection, and Response.
Washington D.C.: The National Academies Press * "Zerhouni E and Hamburg M. (2016)
The need for global regulatory harmonization: A public health imperative.
Science Translational Medicine. Vol 8(338)"

References

External links

FORA.tv videos
*
Personal Bio
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamburg, Margaret A. 1955 births Living people People of African-American descent 20th-century American Jews American public health doctors Commissioners of Health of the City of New York Commissioners of the Food and Drug Administration Harvard College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Members of the National Academy of Medicine New York (state) Democrats Obama administration personnel Physicians from Illinois Urban Institute people Writers from Chicago 20th-century American physicians 20th-century American women physicians 21st-century American physicians Clinton administration personnel 21st-century American women 21st-century American Jews Women public health doctors