Marty Makary

Martin Adel Makary () is a British-American surgeon, professor, author, and medical commentator, who served as the 27th FDA commissioner from 2025 to 2026. He has practiced surgical oncology and gastrointestinal laparoscopic surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, was the Mark Ravitch Chair in Gastrointestinal Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and was the chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins. Makary completed his surgical residency at Georgetown University and sub-specialty training in surgical oncology and gastrointestinal surgery at Johns Hopkins under John Cameron, later joining Cameron's faculty practice. He is now Professor Emeritus at Johns Hopkins.

Makary has pioneered advanced laparoscopic procedures, including the first laparoscopic Whipple and Frey’s procedures at Johns Hopkins, and led the development of "the Surgery Checklist" in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Makary has held several leadership roles at Johns Hopkins, including Credentials Chair, Director of Quality and Safety for Surgery, clinical lead for the Sibley Innovation Hub, and Executive Director of Improving Wisely. He has published on surgical safety, frailty, teamwork, and hospital quality, and has advocated for public reporting of physician-endorsed quality measures, price transparency, and reform in drug pricing.

Makary's books include Unaccountable, The Price We Pay, Mama Maggie, and Blind Spots, focusing on improving healthcare systems, critical evaluation of medical practices, and personal narratives of humanitarian work. In 2018, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Some of his research and commentary has been controversial, including a paper claiming medical error is the third leading cause of death in the United States. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Makary supported universal masking early on and vaccines for adults, but opposed broad vaccine mandates, certain school and university restrictions, and boosters for younger populations.

In November 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced Makary would be his nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as its commissioner. He was confirmed by the United States Senate in March 2025. As FDA commissioner, Makary has prioritized modernizing regulatory processes and launching AI-assisted review tools. In May 2026, Makary resigned as FDA commissioner after Trump decided to lift the agency's ban on the sale of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes (vapes) in the U.S.