Stephen Ostroff, M.D., is the former Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine, a position he assumed in May 2016. In that role, he oversaw the food and animal health activities of FDA, including FDA's responsibilities in the areas of food safety and nutrition, food labeling, food and color additives, cosmetics, dietary supplements, animal drugs and animal feed, and research to support the food and veterinary medicine mission of FDA.
Dr. Ostroff has also served as the acting FDA Commissioner on two occasions, from April 2015 to late February 2016 and again from January to May 2017.
Dr. Ostroff served as the FDA's Chief Scientist starting in February 2014. The Office of the Chief Scientist works closely with FDA's product centers, providing strategic leadership and support for FDA's regulatory science and innovation initiatives.
Dr. Ostroff joined FDA in 2013 as Chief Medical Officer in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and Senior Public Health Advisor to FDA's Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine.
Prior to that, he served as Deputy Director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). At CDC Dr. Ostroff focused on emerging infectious diseases, food safety, and coordination of complex outbreak response. He retired from the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service at the rank of Rear Admiral (Assistant Surgeon General). Dr. Ostroff was also the Director of the Bureau of Epidemiology and Acting Physician General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and has consulted internationally on public health projects in South Asia and Latin America.
Dr. Ostroff graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1981 and completed residencies in internal medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and preventive medicine at CDC.
