FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 16, 2022 Doctors for America’s FDA Task Force Meets with Policymakers Washington, D.C.: This week Doctors for America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Task Force is meeting with key policymakers and agency officials to discuss increasing transparency and protecting patient safety by improving FDA processes. The FDA Task Force aims to improve the federal agency so that it can continue to provide physicians and patients with two main assurances: that therapeutic approvals are conflict free and they rely on the highest evidentiary standards. The Task Force is comprised of physician leaders across specialties • Reshma Ramachandran, Family Medicine, Connecticut • Marie Garlock, Patient Advocate, North Carolina • William Lawson, Psychiatry, Maryland • Douglas Levin, Hepatology, Ohio • Sewa Legha, Medical Oncology, Texas • Velandy Manohar, Psychiatry, Connecticut • Arakaprava Deb, Psychiatry/Preventative Medicine, Maryland • Andrew Kolodny, Psychiatrist/Opioid Policy Research, Massachusetts • David Tian, Internal Medicine/Addiction Medicine, California • John Powers, Infectious Diseases, Maryland • Jim Rickert, Orthopedic Surgery, Indiana • Peter Capell, Endocrinology, Washington • Rajadhar Reddy, Medical Student, Texas • Neha Siddiqui, Medical Student, New York • Dhiksha Balaji medical, Medical Student, Ohio • June McKoy, Internal Medicine, Illinois • Audrey Zhang, Internal Medicine, North Carolina • Ellen Pil, Medical Student, Maryland • Syed Ahsan, Psychiatry, Virginia • Ravi Gupta, Internal Medicine, Pennsylvania • Michael Goodman, Wisconsin • Richard Bruno, Family Medicine/Preventive Medicine, Oregon • Sonali Iyer, Internal Medicine, California • Sandy Falk, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts • Barbara Messinger-Rapport, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Ohio • Julia Skapik, Internal Medicine, Washington, DC • Apurv Hirsh Shekhar, Medical Student, Minnesota • Daniel Turner-Lloveras, Internal Medicine, California • Ealena Callender, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maryland • Jeoffry Gordon, Family Medicine, California • Esther Smith, Family Medicine, Hawaii • Priya Dave, Radiology, Indiana • Summer Barlow, Family and Addiction Medicine, North Carolina • Joshua Skydel, Internal Medicine, New Hampshire • Tricia Pil, Pediatrics, Utah • Linnea Spens, General Surgery, Washington • Natalie Nguyen, Family Medicine, Ohio The FDA Task Force is meeting with policymakers in the United States House of Representatives and Senate and the Administration. The physician leaders are meeting to discuss the value of a transparent FDA approval and review process, improving expedited review pathways to adhere to the highest evidentiary standards and the importance of codifying diversity standards within clinical trials. For press inquiries for members of the FDA Task Force and Doctors for America please contact Claire Onyechi with Continuum Health Group (conyechi@cha-dc.com).