The Senate Agriculture Committee on July 1 approved the nominations of two key U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nominees, recommending that they be confirmed by the full Senate when it reconvenes in mid-month following its July 4th recess.
By a voice vote, the committee approved the nominations of Elisabeth Hagen to be undersecretary of agriculture for food safety and Catherine Woteki to be undersecretary of agriculture for research, education and economics. Hagen was nominated by President Obama in late January, and would fill a vacancy that has existed at USDA since the September 2008 departure of then-undersecretary Richard Raymond during the Bush administration. A medical doctor, Hagen currently serves as USDA's chief medical officer and has worked within its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) since 2006. Before joining the federal government in 2006, Hagen taught and practiced medicine in both the private and academic sectors, most recently in Washington. She received a doctorate of medicine degree from Harvard Medical School and a bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pa. Hagen completed her specialty medical training at the University of Texas Southwestern and the University of Pennsylvania, and is board-certified in infectious disease. FSIS is USDA's public health agency, responsible for the safety and proper labeling and packaging of commercial meat, poultry and egg products.
Meanwhile, Woteki would fill the vacancy created earlier this year when Rajiv Shah became head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Woteki previously served at USDA from 1997-2001 as its first undersecretary for food safety, where she oversaw the activities of FSIS and the U.S. government's Office for the Codex Alimentarius Commission. She also worked for two years at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she co-authored the Clinton administration’s policy statement on science in the national interest. She also served as deputy undersecretary of agriculture for research, education and economics. From 2002-05, she was dean of agriculture and professor of human nutrition at Iowa State University. Since 2005, she has been global director of scientific affairs for Mars Inc., where she has managed scientific policy and research on health, nutrition and product safety for the multinational food, confectionary and pet care company.