Dr. Heidi Overton appears before Senate committee for confirmation hearing as next FDA commissioner
Dr. Heidi Overton appeared before a Senate committee on Thursday for her confirmation hearing as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
Overton was nominated in August by President Donald Trump, who described her in a post on social media as a "ROCKSTAR in my Administration."
She sat before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, where she faced questions about childhood vaccines and the abortion drug mifepristone.
If confirmed, Overton will be the second person to lead the FDA after the previous commissioner, Marty Makary, resigned following public clashes with lawmakers, major pharmaceutical companies and Trump over fruit-flavored vapes.
Kyle Diamantas has served as acting FDA commissioner since May 2026.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chair of the HELP committee -- as well as a physician and liver doctor who has long championed the efficacy of vaccines -- started the hearing by expressing his concerns with Overton participating in Trump’s executive order signing that overhauled the childhood vaccine schedule.
Cassidy stressed that the order was based on "zero" scientific evidence and noted that people risk dying if they do not get vaccinated.
Cassidy began his line of questioning by asking Overton if the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine Is lethal. Overton replied that it is not.
When asked if the vaccine is safe and effective, Overton reiterated that the vaccine is safe and effective against measles.
"Are there any vaccines on the U.S. market right now which are unsafe?" Cassidy asked.
"Senator, every vaccine on the U.S. market right now are safe and effective, according to the FDA," Overton said.
Overton also told Cassidy that the vaccine is the best tool in the public health response to the country's rising number of measles cases.
However, when Cassidy and Ranking Member Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pressed Overton on if she would stand up to the president in policy making decisions, she appeared to deflect and said she would follow statutory law.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa., asked Overton if she believes mifepristone is safe and effective. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched an FDA safety review of the drug last year.
"I know that it has met the safety and efficacy standard according to the FDA review," Overton replied.
Murray, who previously labeled Overton as an "anti-abortion extremist," said it's alarming that Overton published an article in 2023 that Murray said incorrectly stated medication abortion as dangerous to women. When Overton tried to explain the FDA’s safety review standards and procedures, Murray said. "I hear you changing your answer."
“The FDA agreed that this was safe and effective 26 years ago,” Murray said. “I really believe that our FDA needs people who put science first. The FDA has said this was safe and we need someone in FDA who is going to be there to make sure this is done by science based. That's where I come from."
Murray also asked if Overton believes an IUD, or an intrauterine device, used for birth control, is an abortifacient, which is a substance used to induce an abortion or terminate a pregnancy. Overton did not answer directly.
"If I'm confirmed as FDA commissioner, I'll be fully briefed on all their prior decisions and make determinations according to the standards of safety and efficacy," Overton said.
Questions also arose about claims over acetaminophen use in pregnancy and autism.
In September, Trump warned that acetaminophen use in pregnancy was "associated with a very increased risk of autism" and the president advised pregnant women, "Don't take Tylenol."
The president has since repeated that claim on social media and has suggested that young children, including babies, shouldn't be given the drug, without providing evidence to back up the statement.
The largest review studies on the topic, which have reviewed data from close to 3 million children have not shown direct cause and effect between prenatal acetaminophen use and autism. Major medical groups such as the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) continue to recommend acetaminophen as the safest painkiller during pregnancy as untreated fever during pregnancy has significant risks.
Studies on this question have not shown a direct cause and effect. Some studies point to a possible link, but major medical groups have evaluated the evidence and continue to recommend acetaminophen as the safest painkiller during pregnancy.
"Do you believe that Tylenol causes autism?" Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., asked Overton, in part.
"Senator, I have not seen any causal evidence that Tylenol causes autism," Overton replied. "The Tylenol label, as I understand it, recommends that pregnant women talk to their doctor."
When asked if Trump was wrong about the link between acetaminophen use and autism risks, Overton declined to answer.
Overton was nominated for the job, in part, because she is a loyalist of the president, two sources familiar with the nomination tell ABC News prior to the hearing.
She's been described as a loyal staffer, particularly in the presidents' efforts to overhaul the childhood vaccine schedule, according to a former senior administration official.
"Why would you not want your own loyalist in there?" the source said about Trump's choice, adding "She [Overton] kind of goes along with things." The former official supports Overton but has previously acknowledged that, "She's been in the world of politics for a long time and understands everything's about loyalty."
Overton is a physician with a doctor of medicine degree from the University of New Mexico and also holds a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.
Prior to her role as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, she was vice chair of the America First Policy Institute's (AFPI) Center for a Healthy America, where Overton was also the chief policy officer, a nonprofit that aims to advance policies that it says put the American people first. AFPI was run by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins before Rollins was tapped to join the president's Cabinet.
Several Trump administration officials held positions there before he was reelected, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
In a statement to ABC News, Democratic Women's Caucus Chairwoman Teresa Leger Fernández slammed the nomination.
"I call on my colleagues in the Senate to reject her nomination," Fernández wrote, adding "Overton has publicly denied scientific fact and repeatedly launched conspiratorial attacks against our right to abortion access, the safety of mifepristone, and Planned Parenthood."
Fernández added: "She is not qualified to serve as FDA Commissioner, and her extremist beliefs and loyalty to the Trump administration will put the lives of millions of women at risk."
In a statement, Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, also criticized her nomination.
"The fact that Dr. Overton played a central role in an executive order that shrinks the childhood vaccine schedule and calls for splitting MMR into shots that don't exist, all without new evidence, calls into question her scientific judgement," Adalja said. "The fact that she has garnered the praise of the nation's chief anti-vaccine propagandist, Secretary Kennedy, is also concerning."
