CDER's Director Set To Retire Amid FDA Leadership Shuffle

By Katie Anderson, Chief Editor, Pharmaceutical Online

CDER’s acting director, Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, M.D., J.D., announced plans to retire from the agency in July 2025. Corrigan-Curay’s announcement follows a string of leadership personnel changes at the FDA since January.

Corrigan-Curay has served at the FDA for over eight years, joining in 2016 as the director for the Office of Medical Policy at CDER. In 2021, she moved to a new role as principal deputy center director at CDER before being named acting director of CDER in January 2025 following Patrizia Cavazzoni’s retirement.

In her e-mail to CDER, Corrigan-Curay called her move “incredibly challenging,” thanking her colleagues for their support and acknowledging the tremendous opportunity the position afforded her.

Since President Donald Trump took office in January and appointed Marty Makary as FDA Commissioner, a noticeable amount of officials have left the agency, including: Jim Jones (Human Foods Program), Nicole Verdun (cell and gene therapy), Celia Witten, M.D. (Center for Biologics Research and Evaluation), Michael Rogers (inspections and investigations), Rachael Anatol (cell and gene therapy), Hilary Marston, M.D. (Chief Medical Officer) and Peter Marks (Center for Biologics Research and Evaluation). Though some of them had no choice in their exit, others made their choices based on staff cuts and changes in policy.

It is unclear what is fueling Corrigan-Curay’s decision to retire from CDER; however, she has committed to staying at the agency a little while longer to ensure the transition is smooth.