President Trump on Friday nominated a top cancer specialist and veteran hospital exec to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

If confirmed, Dr. Stephen Hahn, 59, of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas would inherit a host of high-profile public health issues, including heading up the agency’s response to a wave of underage vaping and the opioid epidemic.

Team Trump announced the nomination in a statement citing Hahn’s role as the cancer center’s top medical executive, and the Senate will vote on whether to confirm him.

Ned Sharpless, who previously led the National Cancer Institute, has been serving as acting commissioner since April, when Trump’s first FDA chief, Scott Gottlieb, stepped down after less than two years on the job.

The administration faced a legal deadline of Friday to nominate a permanent replacement.

Headquartered in the Maryland suburbs outside Washington, the FDA regulates a variety of consumer goods, including prescription drugs, medical devices, tobacco and vaping products, cosmetics and most food.

As head of the FDA, Hahn would be expected to take up the long list of projects launched by Gottlieb.

Those include an effort to make cigarettes less addictive by cutting their nicotine levels and reevaluating the risks and benefits of opioid painkillers.

The agency is also grappling with the regulation of CBD, a marijuana-derived compound that has become a trendy additive in foods, drinks and supplements.

“At the beginning of a presidential cycle, a new commissioner has an opportunity to set the agency’s agenda,” said Wayne Pines, a former FDA official who now consults for FDA-regulated companies.

“To a certain extent, the next commissioner’s agenda is going to have to include following through on initiatives that Gottlieb undertook.”

Hahn is certain to face intense questioning in the Senate on his approach to regulating electronic cigarettes, as the FDA attempts to reverse what regulators call an epidemic of underage vaping among teenagers.

In September, Trump announced plans to sweep most flavored e-cigarettes off the market.

But anti-vaping advocates are furious that a concrete plan has yet to appear.
Meanwhile, vaping companies and retailers argue that the prohibition on fruit, candy, menthol and other flavors could wipe out their industry.

The FDA is also working to find the source of a mysterious outbreak of sometimes-fatal lung injuries tied to vaping.

Unlike many past FDA nominees, Hahn has not worked in Washington or served as a public health official.

With Post Wires