Robert Califf

Robert Califf, MD, MACC, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Califf was the United States Commissioner of Food and Drugs in 2016-2017 and in 2022-2025. Prior to his time as Commissioner, he was Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco from February 2015 to February 2016. Between his stints at FDA he was Head of Medical Policy and Strategy at Verily Life Sciences and Google Health.  Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. Califf was an endowed professor of medicine and vice chancellor for clinical and translational research at Duke University. He also founded and led the Duke Clinical Research Institute and the Duke Translational Medicine Institute. A nationally and internationally recognized expert in cardiovascular medicine, health outcomes research, healthcare quality, regulatory science and clinical research, Dr. Califf has led many landmark clinical trials and is one of the most frequently cited authors in biomedical science, with more than 1,300 publications in the peer-reviewed literature.