Dr. Namandjé N. Bumpus became the FDA’s Principal Deputy Commissioner on Feb. 1, 2024. In this role she works closely with FDA leadership to develop, advance and implement key public health initiatives, as well as to oversee the agency’s day-to-day functions. Chief among those priorities is the proposed reorganization unifying the Human Foods Program, creating a new model for the Office of Regulatory Affairs, and strengthening the entire agency. Dr. Bumpus has played an integral leadership role in the Implementation and Change Management Group and will provide seamless transition for this critical modernization effort.

As the FDA’s Chief Scientist since August 2022, Dr. Bumpus has overseen and quickly elevated the research foundation, science and innovation that provides vital support for the FDA’s public health mission. This includes leading the agency’s implementation of the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act. She has continued to raise the cache of the FDA’s regulatory science within the agency and to the outside world, in part by being a champion of plain language, a staunch advocate for truth-telling in public health, and a formidable scientist. 

Before joining the FDA, Dr. Bumpus was the E.K. Marshall and Thomas H. Maren Professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She served previously as associate dean for basic research in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Bumpus’ research has focused on drug metabolism, pharmacogenetics, bioanalytical chemistry, and infectious disease pharmacology. Dr. Bumpus joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 2010 as an assistant professor. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Occidental College in 2003, a doctorate in pharmacology at the University of Michigan in 2007 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular and experimental medicine at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, in 2010.  

Dr. Bumpus currently serves as president of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. She previously served as chair of the National Institutes of Health Xenobiotic and Nutrient Disposition and Action study section.  

Her many honors include the Leon I. Goldberg Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the James Gillette Award from the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics, the John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, which is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on early career scientists and engineers. Dr. Bumpus is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She became a Member of the National Academy of Medicine, Class of 2022, one of the highest honors in the fields of health, science and medicine.

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