Barclay Butler, who has spent about a year serving as the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations deputy commissioner for operations and chief operating officer, will retire from federal service in the coming months, according to an internal email reviewed by Reuters. The email said Butler will continue to serve as an adviser under the title COO emeritus until he leaves.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary informed staff that Melanie Keller, who has been Butlers deputy, will step into his operational roles starting on April 6. Keller brings 30 years of experience in senior posts across the Department of Health and Human Services to the position.
Within Kellers federal tenure, she served from 2010 to 2017 as the executive officer at the FDAs Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. In that role she managed a $3 billion budget and led center operations, responsibilities the internal email highlighted as part of her qualifications for the incoming assignment.
Makary also announced a further change in the agencys operations leadership. Melissa Shea will become the FDAs principal deputy associate commissioner for operations and deputy chief operating officer, replacing Keller in that deputy role. Shea arrives with more than 24 years of experience in program management and business operations.
Before joining the FDA, Shea held senior positions at the Defense Health Agency, where she oversaw a contracting portfolio of more than $5.3 billion and managed the $26 billion TRICARE military health insurance program, according to the announcement.
The leadership changes at the FDA are taking place amid a broader reshuffling of top public health posts across federal agencies. The internal communication noted that last month the National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya was named acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The memo framed the personnel moves at the CDC and elsewhere as following months of upheaval under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., described in the memo as a longtime vaccine skeptic who has pushed aggressive changes across federal health agencies. That initiative has included the firing of former CDC Director Susan Monarez for resisting vaccine-policy changes and has triggered multiple senior resignations, the email said.
Agency officials are set to implement the outlined transitions on the stated timelines, with Keller taking over Butlers operational responsibilities on April 6 and Shea assuming the deputy operations role previously held by Keller.