Source:  Dani Friedland, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 9/17/10

The U.S. Senate voted late Thursday to confirm the nominations of Elisabeth Hagen and Catherine Woteki.

In August, President Barack Obama gave Hagen a recess appointment to the position of Under Secretary for Food Safety at the USDA, for which she was nominated in January. (See Obama announces intent to recess appoint Hagen on Meatingplace, Aug. 20, 2010.) Prior to her nomination, Hagen had been the USDA’s chief medical officer.

“There is no higher priority at USDA than ensuring that Americans have access to a safe and healthy food supply, and Dr. Hagen’s background as the Chief Medical Officer and senior executive within USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service will enable her to successfully lead the effort to develop and execute the agency’s scientific and public health agenda and continue to build the coordination with public health partners at federal, state, and local level needed to achieve the objectives of President Obama’s Food Safety Working Group,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

The Senate also voted to confirm Catherine Woteki as Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. From 1997-2001, Woteki served as the first Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA, overseeing the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Woteki worked for two years in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where she co-authored the Clinton Administration's policy statement, "Science in the National Interest," and served as the Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics in the USDA. Since 2005, Woteki has served as Global Director of Scientific Affairs for Mars, Inc., where she managed the company's scientific policy and research on matters of health, nutrition, and food safety.

“USDA science is working to improve human health, protect our environment and bring about our generation's new era of agricultural science,” Vilsack said. “As a tireless champion of science’s power not just to create knowledge but to improve the lives and health of all Americans, Catherine Woteki brings an incredible depth of experience that will help USDA accelerate scientific discovery and application of new knowledge to address challenges facing US and global food and agriculture. I am delighted to welcome such an outstanding advocate for science back to USDA.”

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