Michelle Tarver Named New FDA Director of Medical Devices

The US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has named Michelle E. Tarver, MD, PhD, as its new permanent director. Tarver had served as interim director since July 2024, when longtime CDRH Director Jeff Shuren, MD, JD, announced his plans to retire.

The agency confirmed the decision to its staff earlier this week in an email from Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, according to reporting by STAT, and in recent days made the title official on Tarver’s FDA bio page. The announcement follows a nationwide search for Shuren’s replacement.

As TCTMD previously reported, Shuren, a neurologist who had held the top position at CDRH since January 2010, gave Tarver his full support in July, adding that he had “seen her grow into the incredible leader she has become.”

Tarver, an ophthalmologist and epidemiologist, has been with the FDA since 2009 and has worked closely with Shuren on medical device regulations for most of that time. Among her most recent initiatives is the Home as a Health Care Hub, which reimagines a patient’s home environment as an integral part of the healthcare system and a catalyst for advancing health equity in line with the CDRH’s strategic priorities for 2022-2025.