26 Facts About Margaret Hamburg

Margaret Hamburg served as the 21st Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration from May 2009 to April 2015.

Margaret Hamburg's 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.

Margaret Hamburg completed her medical residency training at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine.

Margaret Hamburg is married to Peter Fitzhugh Brown, a computer scientist and artificial intelligence expert.

Margaret Hamburg 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.

Margaret Hamburg worked as a clinical instructor for Georgetown University School of Medicine from 1986 to 1990.

In 1991 Margaret 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.

Margaret Hamburg 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 created by Ted Turner dedicated to reducing the threat to public safety from nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

In that role, Margaret Hamburg spearheaded efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to both naturally occurring and deliberately caused biological threats.

Margaret Hamburg worked on reforms to reduce the dangers associated with modern bioterrorism and infectious diseases such as pandemic influenza.

In June 2001, Margaret Hamburg participated in the Operation Dark Winter exercise at Andrews Air Force Base simulating a bioterrorism event involving weaponized smallpox.

Margaret Hamburg is a member of the Medical Advisory Team for the Sidwell Friends School, where she served on the board of trustees from 2004 to 2009.

Margaret Hamburg was nominated by President Barack Obama in March 2009 to become Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and was unanimously confirmed in May 2009.

Margaret Hamburg served at the FDA until her resignation on March 28,2015.

The FDA, under Margaret Hamburg's leadership approved 51 drugs in 2014 alone, which was noted as being "most in more than 20 years" to which Margaret Hamburg attributes to "innovative approaches".

In December 2016, Margaret Hamburg was named president-elect for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Margaret Hamburg played the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Margaret Hamburg joined the board of directors for Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in 2018.

Additionally, Margaret Hamburg was appointed by the Council on Foreign Relations to serve on its Independent Task Force on Improving Pandemic Preparedness, co-chaired by Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Frances Fragos Townsend.

Margaret Hamburg participated in a tabletop exercise at the March 2021 Munich Security Conference modelling a fictional international outbreak of monkeypox.

Margaret Hamburg is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American College of Physicians, as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Academy of Medicine, where she now serves as Foreign Secretary.

Margaret 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.

Margaret Hamburg has received the American College of Clinical Pharmacology's Nathaniel T Kwit Memorial Distinguished Service Award, the New York Academy of Medicine Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Health Policy, the Radcliffe Alumnae Award and the American Lung Association's Breath of Life Award.

Margaret Hamburg is a distinguished senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and holds several Honorary Degrees.

Margaret Hamburg formerly served on the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller University, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Conservation International and Henry Schein Inc She has participated as a member of the Central Intelligence Agency's Intelligence Science Board.

Margaret Hamburg is a member of the National Advisory Council for the COVID Collaborative.