Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary Will Headline Special Session at Clinical Congress

Surgical oncologist Martin (Marty) A. Makary, MD, MPH, FACS, who served as the 27th Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will deliver a Special Session, "The Future of Healthcare," at this year's Clinical Congress.

Dr. Makary will draw on his experience in surgery, academic medicine, and federal health policy, while exploring the forces shaping the future of healthcare. His presentation will examine new trends and biomedical innovations that are positioned to positively disrupt everything from health insurance to the practice of medicine. Attendees can expect a discussion of emerging challenges and opportunities facing surgeons and other healthcare leaders.

Confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the US Senate to lead the FDA, Dr. Makary led initiatives that included accelerating drug approvals, reducing reliance on animal testing, modernizing artificial intelligence regulation, rewriting national dietary guidelines, phasing out artificial food dyes, and advancing healthier school lunch standards. 

Before entering government service, Dr. Makary was a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore, Maryland, where he also served as chief of islet transplant surgery and held the Mark Ravitch Endowed Chair of Gastrointestinal Surgery. Dr. Makary founded the Johns Hopkins Center for Surgical Trials and Outcomes Research and has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019.

Dr. Makary also is the author of two New York Times bestselling books: The Price We Pay, winner of the 2020 Business Book of the Year Award, and his latest book Blind Spots, which tackles nutrition science, the microbiome, hormone replacement therapy, and emerging health trends.

Dr. Makary’s presentation will be Monday, September 28, 7:00–7:45 am.

Registration for Clinical Congress is open; visit facs.org/clincon2026 for more information.