Senate confirms Stephen Hahn as new FDA commissioner
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.
ABC News' Trish Turner contributed to this report.
