Welcome to FDA's White Oak campus.
This state-of-the-art facility is a place of
learning, research, and collaboration, where
science and innovation thrive on behalf of the
public health.
The 15 buildings here are home to approximately
9,000 committed public servants, whose cutting
edge work in these laboratories, research
facilities, and offices affects more than 20
percent of our economy, and helps FDA fulfill its
mission to protect and promote public health.
That mission covers a lot of ground and involves a
wide range of responsibilities.
We make sure that human and veterinary drugs,
vaccines and other biological products and
medical devices intended for human use are safe and
effective.
We also ensure the safety of the food supply.
We protect the public from electronic product
radiation.
We work to protect consumers from unsafe
cosmetics and dietary supplements.
And we regulate tobacco products.
Our work here at White Oak also anchors an
increasingly global response to protecting
Americans, because growing numbers of the products we
use come from abroad.
There's one underlying focus that connects our
work and responsibilities in all of these areas, and
that's the fundamental role and importance of
good science.
No matter whether it involves the development
of new medical treatments, the safety of our food
delivery system, or any of our other
responsibilities, FDA's decisions are based on
rigorous science.
This provides the public with the consistency,
accuracy, and reliability it needs to have
confidence in our decisions.
Here on our campus, we have dozens of high tech
laboratories and high-end computing systems where
our talented scientists, engineers, and health
professionals do original research and come up with
innovative ways to understand the
technologies that we regulate.
This allows us to give helpful guidance during
the development phase, assess the safety, quality
and effectiveness of products that are
developed, and understand the use of these products
after they are on the market.
From explorations of the human genome that are
leading to new treatments for diseases and better
tracking of foodborne pathogens, to the use of
3-dimensional printing that is helping produce
groundbreaking medical devices, FDA is a hive of
activity where the best available science is
constantly in use.
You'll see groundbreaking work in support of our
Medical Counter-Measure initiative, including
pandemic influenza preparedness, as well as
facilitating development of products to diagnose,
prevent and treat global diseases such as HIV,
tuberculosis and malaria, Ebola, and Zika.
And you'll find our Center for Tobacco Products and
the extraordinary regulatory research being
done to support the new responsibilities Congress
gave us to reduce and eliminate the disease and
death caused by tobacco.
And that's just a sampling of the extraordinary work
that goes on here.
White Oak is a place that enhances collaboration,
strengthens teamwork, and creates a synergy that
allows us to apply science to the toughest
challenges.
With scientific and technological advances
rapidly enhancing our understanding of human
biology and underlying disease mechanisms, we
have unprecedented opportunities to develop
new treatments and cures.
These advances also enable us to protect our food
supply with a robust system that meets the
challenges of globalization and employs
our rapidly evolving understanding of the
microbiome.
And the FDA is the linchpin between good
ideas and good products.
One of FDA's accomplished young scientists recently
commented "Our work really is at the crossroads of
cutting-edge technology, patient care, tough
scientific questions, and regulatory science." I
can't think of a comment that more succinctly
captures the essence of FDA's vital work.
So welcome to FDA.
We hope you enjoy your visit.