Bay Area medical school professor resigns from leading role in Trump administration after right-wing conspiracy theorist calls him ‘leftist saboteur’

Lesson No perhaps in taking a role in the administration of President Donald Trump If you ve previously described yourself in social media posts as a progressive Bernie Sanders fan and a political liberal closest to Elizabeth Warren best delete those posts if you want to stay employed Otherwise as Bay Area physician and medical-school professor Dr Vinay Prasad appears to have learned you may get Loomered right out of a job Prasad s posts from and are still up on social media platform X But he s out from his leadership role at the U S Food and Drug Administration after right-wing conspiracy theorist social media influencer and Trump loyalist Laura Loomer exposed his posts in backing of iconic liberal U S Senators Sanders and Warren Prasad who until earlier this year headed a presently paused cancer-drugs and health-policy lab at UC San Francisco and remains a professor at the school resigned from the FDA on Tuesday after Loomer launched a campaign July to oust him Loomer labeled him on X as a wolf in sheep s clothing and The Progressive Leftist Saboteur Undermining President Trump s FDA Prasad did not this instant respond to requests from this news organization for comment I ve never seen anything like it where this kind of personal loyalty test has become so vital commented San Jose State University emeritus professor of political science Larry Gerston That s the way the Trump administration works You see it very clearly in the FDA where their politics take precedent over everything else There are lives affected by this and it doesn t matter The FDA and White House did not at once respond to requests for comment on Gerston s criticisms The FDA in May named Prasad head of its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research which regulates vaccines and gene therapies He replaced Dr Peter Marks who resigned in March saying Soundness and Human Services Secretary and vaccine critic Robert F Kennedy Jr wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies according to his letter of resignation obtained by NPR During the Biden administration Prasad repeatedly attacked Marks on social media painting Marks regulatory approach to COVID as heavy handed and lacking foundation in science In blog entries social media posts and op-eds Prasad highlighted adverse effects from COVID vaccines assailed vaccine mandates for children and criticized Biden s response to the pandemic Still he described himself as a firm supporter of encouraging and persuading adults to get vaccinated Prasad s criticisms of Marks regime COVID responses and Biden advisers COVID zealotry may have made him attractive to the Trump administration until of late the FDA gave him another big job in June as its chief anatomical and science officer But Loomer on her Loomered website called his views on pupil loan forgiveness the U S confines abortion taxes and fitness care funding a direct affront to the conservative principles underpinning Trump s agenda She also pointed to podcasts in which Prasad appeared to criticize Trump Related Articles Senate confirms former Fox host as top DC prosecutor Senate recesses as Trump tells Schumer to go to hell Trump administration releases billion in California frozen coaching funds States sue Trump saying he is intimidating hospitals over gender-affirming care for youth US job upsurge stalls Just jobs added in July with stunning downward revisions to latest months In the wake of Loomer s exposure of Prasad s statements but just days before he resigned FDA chief Martin Makary sang his praises There s not a political bone to his body Makary explained Politico He s an impeccable scientist I think one of the greatest scientific minds of our generation Vinay Prasad has done a phenomenal job His staff love him The heritage there is much improved and we re seeing great decisions coming out of the FDA In response to questions about the reasons for Prasad s resignation FDA spokesman Andrew Nixon announced in a announcement Dr Prasad did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the FDA in the Trump administration and has decided to return to California and spend more time with his family Nixon thanked Prasad for the a large number of essential reforms he was able to achieve in his time at FDA Prasad s departure from the FDA also followed a controversial soon-reversed decision by the agency to take off the sector a gene therapy drug for muscular dystrophy produced by Sarepta Therapeutics after two children died out of patients treated Critics including parents claimed the FDA ignored clear benefits from the therapy For Trump facing divisions among his supporters over issues including wars in Ukraine and Gaza and his administration s access to files related to the late accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein catering to Loomer offers a way to quiet discontent reported Dan Schnur a lecturer at UC Berkeley and a former Republican political consultant He knows that he s never going to be able to make them happy on every issue Schnur explained If the true MAGA believers are upset about Ukraine or Gaza or Epstein this is a pretty painless way to pacify them Loomer appears to wield a fairly key amount of influence on administration personnel Schnur announced But because Trump is the first social media president Schnur added it shouldn t be surprising that social media influencers have a lot more clout with him Prasad is not the only apparent victim of Loomer a provocateur close to Trump In April Trump fired six National Shield Council bureaucrats after Loomer came to the White House and claimed they were disloyal to him the New York Times stated Trump called Loomer a great patriot but denied she was involved in the terminations The FDA in a since-deleted profile of Prasad called attention to his multiple accomplishments including publication of more than academic articles extensive research on cancer medicine presentations at hundreds of anatomical conferences and authorship of two books on robustness care To Gerston Prasad s resignation reflects a consistent approach by the Trump administration across appointments in his cabinet and regulatory agencies It s pretty simple if you think about it Gerston stated It s politics over proficiency