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.

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

Marty Makary, MD, MPH, rose to national attention by skewering the medical establishment in books and papers and bashing the federal response to COVID-19 on TV. Now the Johns Hopkins University surgeon and researcher has been nominated to lead the FDA.