Marty Makary Resigns as FDA Commissioner

Marty Makary resigned as FDA commissioner after serving in the role for a little over a year. President Donald Trump confirmed the resignation on Tuesday while taking questions from reporters ahead of his trip to China. Kyle Diamantas, the top food regulator at the FDA, will step in as acting commissioner until a permanent replacement is found.

Trump said of Makary, "He's going to go on and he's going to lead a good life. He was having some difficulty. He's a great doctor. He's going to go on and do well. " Makary is a British-American surgeon born in Liverpool, England, who moved with his family as a child to Baltimore, Maryland.

He is a former surgeon at Johns Hopkins University and rose to prominence as an advocate for the Make America Healthy Again movement. As president-elect, Donald Trump picked Makary to lead the FDA in his second term, and he was confirmed in March 2025.

The departure makes Makary the latest top health official to be ousted under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill left his post earlier this year. CDC head Susan Monarez left the agency last year.

Makary's exit follows the recent departures of US Navy Secretary John Phelan, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, and homeland security chief Kristi Noem.

Trump said on Tuesday that Makary is leaving his post and that the role would be filled by a deputy until a permanent replacement is found. During his tenure, the FDA announced in early May that it was authorising the first fruit-flavored e-cigarette products (mango and blueberry) as well as menthol vapes produced by Glas, a Los Angeles-based company.

Kennedy Jr. has toned down his public criticism of vaccines under orders from the White House. The article detailing these events was published on May 12, 2026. Makary had been in the role for just over a year at the time of his resignation.