Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The Senate confirmed Stephen Hahn as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday.Hahn is poised to take the helm of the agency amid national concern around youth nicotine use with e-cigarettes and lung injuries connected to illicit vaping products. The administration pledged to enact a new policy to take flavored vaping products off the market earlier this year by enforcing current FDA rules but the plan seems to have stalled.He was confirmed by a vote of 72-18.President Donald Trump nominated Hahn in November to replace former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who abruptly left the agency in March.Hahn has spent the majority of his career as a radiation oncologist researching lung cancer and sarcoma. He was named chief medical executive of MD Anderson in 2018.Prior to that he worked as chair of the radiation oncology department at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Copyright © 2019, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Senate confirms Stephen Hahn as new FDA commissioner
Hahn was nominated to take over the agency in November.
December 12, 2019, 2:59 PM
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Trump backtracks on vaping banPhoto By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP
The Senate confirmed Stephen Hahn as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday.
Hahn is poised to take the helm of the agency amid national concern around youth nicotine use with e-cigarettes and lung injuries connected to illicit vaping products. The administration pledged to enact a new policy to take flavored vaping products off the market earlier this year by enforcing current FDA rules but the plan seems to have stalled.
(MORE: Trump to nominate new head of FDA amid vaping, e-cig crisis)
He was confirmed by a vote of 72-18.
President Donald Trump nominated Hahn in November to replace former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who abruptly left the agency in March.
Stephen Hahn, nominee to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, testifies during his confirmation hearing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Nov. 20, 2019.Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP
Hahn has spent the majority of his career as a radiation oncologist researching lung cancer and sarcoma. He was named chief medical executive of MD Anderson in 2018.
Prior to that he worked as chair of the radiation oncology department at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
