Who is the FDA’s Dr. Peter Marks as he resigns in opposition to RFK Jr.?

In his resignation letter, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Peter Marks said: "It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies." Dr. Peter Marks was referring to the agency's new leader Robert F Kennedy Jr.

According to NBC News, a spokesperson at the Department of Health and Human Services, said in response to Dr. Peter Marks’s resignation that “If Peter Marks does not want to get behind restoring science to its golden standard and promoting radical transparency, then he has no place at the FDA under the strong leadership of Secretary Kennedy.”

Dr. Peter Marks’s biography on the FDA’s website reads: “Dr. Peter Marks received his graduate degree in cell and molecular biology and his medical degree at New York University. Following this, he completed an Internal Medicine residency and Hematology/Medical Oncology fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he subsequently joined the attending staff as a clinician-scientist and eventually served as Clinical Director of Hematology.”

Dr. Peter Marks returned to academic medicine at Yale University after working for several years on the clinical development of hematology and oncology products in the pharmaceutical industry. When he returned to Yale University, Dr. Peter Marks led the Adult Leukaemia Service and also served as Chief Clinical Officer of Smilow Cancer Hospital.

It was in 2012 that he joined the FDA as Deputy Centre Director for CBER and was made Centre Director in 2016. In 2022, he became a Member of the National Academy of Medicine, which is considered one of the highest honours in the fields of health, science and medicine.

When Dr. Peter Marks appeared remotely at the Jefferies London Healthcare Conference last Autumn, he said in reference to his role at the FDA that “I will stay around as long as I’m considered to be welcome to stay around,” and also added that “I think it’s very important that people see that there’s constant leadership here — that we are here to work with either side of the aisle.”

According to reports, Dr. Peter Marks’s resignation is effective from April 5, CNN reported that “Marks was instrumental in carrying out Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine development program. He has overseen the approval of more recent vaccines, including the first influenza vaccine for self- or caregiver-administration, providing a new option for protection against seasonal flu.”