Charles Edwards, M.D.
12/13/1969 - 3/15/1973 *
Charles C. Edwards, the son of a country doctor, was born in
Overton, Nebraska in 1923. He transferred from Princeton to the
University of Colorado, where he received both his B. A. and,
in 1948, his M.D. degree. Edwards' surgical residency at the University
of Minnesota as a Mayo Foundation fellow was interrupted from
1950 to 1952 by his service as a medical officer with the Marines
in the Korean War. In 1956 he received the M.S. in surgery from
Minnesota. During the following five years he was engaged in private
surgical practice in Des Moines, Iowa, including positions on
the teaching staffs of two area hospitals. In 1961 Edwards assumed
a surgical faculty position at Georgetown University Hospital;
at this time he also served as a consultant to the U. S. Public
Health Service. He moved to Chicago in 1962 to join the staff
of the American Medical Association, where he was assistant director
for medical education and hospitals and, in 1965, director of
the division of socio-economics. Two years later Edwards remained
in Chicago but became vice-president for health and scientific
affairs of the management firm, Booz, Allen, and Hamilton.
In December 1969 HEW Secretary Robert H. Finch named Edwards Commissioner
of Food and Drugs. He remained at FDA until March 1973, a period
of upheaval on many fronts for the agency. For example, FDA's organization
shifted from a functional orientation to product areas; the agency
budget doubled from 1970 to 1972; FDA was assigned responsibility
for regulating biologics and radiological health; and cancer-linked
cyclamates, botulism-suspected Bon Vivant vichyssoise, and mercury-tainted
swordfish and tuna were at least temporarily taken off the market
in massive operations. President Nixon nominated Edwards to assume
the position of Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department
of HEW, the Senate confirmed his appointment, and Edwards began
that position in April 1973. As assistant secretary, Edwards reorganized
some components of the Public Health Service, such as giving greater
standing to the Centers for Disease Control, and he aroused the
ire of his former colleagues at the AMA when he proposed major reforms
in national health care.
Edwards left government service in 1975 and became an executive
with a medical device firm. In 1977 he was appointed president
and chief executive officer of the Scripps Clinic and Research
Foundation in La Jolla, California; in 1991 he assumed his present
position as president and CEO of the Scripps Institutes for Medicine
and Science. His honors include the Distinguished Service Award
from the Department of HEW and an honorary degree from the Philadelphia
College of Pharmacy and Science. In 1990 HHS Secretary Louis Sullivan
named Edwards to head the Advisory Committee on the Food and Drug
Administration to review the agency's mission, structure, priorities,
staffing, and budget.
* Sherwin Gardner, deputy commissioner
from 1972 to 1979, acted as commissioner on three separate occasions,
for a total of approximately 12 months, between the tenures of
Charles Edwards, Edward Schmidt, Donald Kennedy and Jere Goyan.