Joshua Sharfstein (KIM HAIRSTON, Baltimore…)
January 04, 2011|By Annie Linskey, The Baltimore Sun
Former Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein is returning to Maryland after nearly two years in the Obama administration to head the state health department, a role that will include carrying out the president's health care overhaul in Maryland.
Gov. Martin O'Malley said Tuesday that he was "ecstatic" and "delighted" by Sharfstein's decision to leave his "very important national position" as the principal deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration, the No. 2 position in the federal agency.
Sharfstein, 41, will succeed state Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary John M. Colmers, who is stepping down after four years in the position.
It's the fourth cabinet change O'Malley has announced since his reelection in November, and one that brings considerable star power to his leadership team: The Harvard-trained pediatrician had already developed a national profile for his work in Baltimore when he left in early 2009.
In an interview Tuesday, Sharfstein called the new job "irresistible" because it will give him the chance to shape Maryland's implementation of the new federal rules aimed at expanding health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.
"I'm making the move to an extremely exciting job," Sharfstein said. "It is an incredibly special moment."
O'Malley has signaled that health care will be a priority, tasking Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown with pushing legislation in the coming legislative session to set up a state framework for the new federal mandates. Sharfstein is scheduled to start Jan. 12, the day the session begins.
Sharfstein said the position will let him "reconnect" with public health issues he's championed, including reducing infant mortality and HIV rates.
And it's closer to home: The married father of two young boys lives in Baltimore's Mount Washington neighborhood. In his new job, his commute for most of the year will be only a few miles, an improvement over the drive to the Washington suburbs, where the FDA is headquartered.
The move comes as the FDA faces increased scrutiny from the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who will chair the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has identified the agency's handling of drug and food recalls as a top priority for investigation.
David Acheson, the FDA's top food safety official during the Bush administration, said Sharfstein could have expected to feel the heat.
"Congress has already signaled that they're going after FDA and he's absolutely a lightning rod for that agency," Acheson said. But he added that Sharfstein has the respect of conservatives who sometimes disagree with his regulatory activism, because he makes his arguments "in a science-driven way."
Supporters describe Sharfstein's arrival at the FDA as part of a badly needed rebalancing that took greater account of the interests of patients and other consumers.
"He certainly has the public health square in his mind," said Chris Waldrop, director of the Consumer Federation of America's Food Policy Institute.
"Previous administrations hadn't been as focused on flexing FDA's regulatory muscle," Waldrop said. "They were content to deal with problems after they occurred."
During his FDA tenure, Sharfstein called for greater transparency, advocating, for example, for some information about drugs gathered in clinical trials — now considered confidential — to be made public.
Word of Sharfstein's impending departure leaked out as President Barack Obama was poised to sign the Food Safety Modernization Act, the first overhaul of the nation's food safety laws in more than 70 years and a measure energetically championed by Sharfstein, who argued that it was needed to allow the FDA to prevent or limit outbreaks of foodborne illness, rather than respond to them once they were underway.
Annapolis will present a different set of challenges. Almost 40 percent of the state's 13 billion general fund dollars go to the health care department, making it a tempting place for trims as the governor tries to reduce spending by $1.6 billion to close a projected shortfall.
Sharfstein will oversee an agency of 7,000 employees with a budget of $9 billion in state and federal funds.
Sharfstein said the job also appealed to him in part because Maryland's health department, unlike those of most states, includes the sprawling Medicaid program. The combination puts public health and health financing under a single umbrella, enabling the secretary to have significant control over many aspects of health policy.
Georges C. Benjamin, who oversaw the state's health department under Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening, said the state's agency's unusual power gives the secretary "enormous reach."
Benjamin, now the executive director at the American Public Health Association, said he would be "drooling" at the chance to implement Obama's healthcare law in Maryland.
