Høeg In, Pazdur Out At The FDA
By Katie Anderson, Chief Editor, Pharmaceutical Online
What an eventful week it has been at the FDA, with Richard Pazdur, M.D., resigning after weeks in his position as director of Center for Drug Research and Evaluation (CDER), and his vacancy being quickly filled by acting director Tracy Beth Høeg, M.D.
Pazdur spent 26 years at the FDA, joining in 1999 as director of the Division of Oncology Products. When the Oncology Center for Excellence (OCE) was created by the FDA in 2017, he became its director.
Pazdur was named director of CDER on Nov. 11, 2025, following the turbulent resignation of George Tidmarsh, M.D., who had only served in the position since July 2025 and faced conduct allegations. Though the exact reason for this resignation was not given, Pazdur did question some of Makary’s policies, including his fast-track drug review.
Høeg will be the fifth CDER director in 2025. The year started out with Patrizia Cavazzoni as director of CDER, who announced her resignation ahead of the incoming administration. Jacqueline Corrigan-Curray then served as acting director from January-July 2025, when she announced her retirement.
So, what will CDER look like with Tracy Beth Høeg at the helm? What we do know is that Høeg led the investigation into pediatric COVID-19 deaths and is known to be a skeptic of the vaccine.
Høeg is a sports medicine physician and epidemiologist, who joined the FDA in March 2025 as senior advisor for clinical sciences in the Office of the Commissioner and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Prior to the FDA, she worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management and practiced as a sports medicine physician.
“Dr. Høeg is the right scientist to fully modernize CDER and finish the job of establishing a culture of cross-center coordination there,” said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., in a public press release.
Perhaps fifth time is a charm for CDER, though there are still a few weeks of 2025 left.