Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, fresh off her role as director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the U.S. FDA, will rejoin Pfizer as chief medical officer, executive vice president.
Dr. Cavazzoni revealed her departure from CDER, announced as a retirement, back in January, ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration. Cavazzoni spent seven years at FDA, joining the agency in 2018 as CDER’s deputy director for operations. She also served as acting principal deputy commissioner of food and drugs from January 2019 to February 2019.
In her new role at Pfizer, Dr. Cavazzoni will lead the drugmaker’s regulatory, pharmacovigilance, safety, epidemiology, and medical information and evidence generation, among other medical functions. During her prior tenure at Pfizer, Dr. Cavazzoni led clinical sciences and development operations for the company across multiple senior roles.
Cavazzoni will succeed Dr. Aida Habtezion, who will be leaving Pfizer to pursue other opportunities.