Dr. Marty Makary, nominee to be commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), appears before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for his confirmation hearing on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

If confirmed, Makary would run one of the nation's leading health agencies, overseeing the regulation of food and drugs.

Should Marty Makary take the reins at the FDA, transitioning from gadfly to the head of an agency that regulates a fifth of the U.S. economy, he would have to engage in the thorny challenges of governing.