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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 10 NATIONAL AFFAIRS September 19, 2025 FDA Official Vinay Prasad Regains Chief Medical Officer Title T op Food and Drug Administration regula- tor Vinay Prasad has regained his role as the agency’s chief medical and scientific officer after he abruptly departed and then came back to the agency, according to an update on the agency’s website Thursday, September 11, 2025. Prasad returned as the agency’s top regulator for vaccines and gene therapies as head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research on Aug. 9. The addi- tional chief medical officer role expands his influence and includes representing the agency’s perspective on medical and scientific matters. The position is also listed as having a leadership role in choosing which companies will benefit from a program to acceler- ate some drug reviews if they align with the agency’s priorities. Department of Health and Human Services spokes- person Rich Danker confirmed that Prasad had resumed his position as chief medical and scientific officer. Prasad unexpectedly left the agency on July 29 after a conservative backlash in part over his handling of safety issues with Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s gene ther- apy. Laura Loomer, an ally of President Donald Trump, had said he was not aligned with the president’s agenda and aggressively lobbied against his return. Though Prasad was in his role for less than three months before his ouster, he managed to stir contro- versy at the agency. He demanded more studies of Covid vaccines, overruled his own scientific review staff and took a confrontational approach that gave critics fodder to claim he could stymie scientific innovation. -Bloomberg By Rachel Cohrs Zhang PHOTO:FDA.GOV Vinay Prasad, FDA’s Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. FBI Director Hits Critics Over Failures, Says ‘Bring It On’ Teamwork And Communication Key Lessons: Sunita Williams On Her Experience During Expedition 72 F BI Director Kash Patel pushed back against criti- cism from Democratic lawmakers over his han- dling of the manhunt for the gunman who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk, telling senators he had no plans to step aside despite questions about his use of social media during the investigation. “I’m not going anywhere,” Patel said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. “Bring it on.” Patel faced questions about his premature social media post during the manhunt, in which he claimed the “subject for the horrific shooting” was in custody before issuing an update saying the person had been released. Lawmakers pressed him on the episode, which they said fueled confusion at a critical moment in the investiga- tion. Patel, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, drew some of the sharpest rebukes from Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the panel’s top Democrat, who took him to task for staff upheaval at the agency. “Director Patel came to the FBI with a political mis- sion,” Durbin said. “With the power of his office and the blessings of the president, he attacked the FBI with a vengeance.” Patel defended his broader record, pointing to what he described as unprecedented enforcement gains under Trump. “Under this administration, the FBI has arrested more than 23,000 violent criminals,” he said. “That’s more than twice the same time period from last year alone.” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa pressed Patel on whether Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and con- victed sex offender who died in federal custody in 2019, had ever served as an intelligence asset for the US or a foreign government. Patel replied that, “as the director of the FBI,” he could only speak for his agency, and that Epstein “was not a source for the FBI.” Patel also addressed social media platforms and whether they’re fueling political violence. Patel said the data showed that online networks were “wildly out of control” in driving radicalization and added that he supports stripping companies of their legal shield under Section 230. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said free speech doesn’t extend to grooming children or inciting murder. -Bloomberg U S astronauts SunitaWilliams, Nick Hague,and ButchWilmore participated in the India-USA space collaboration event held inWashington, DC, where IAF Group Captain and astronaut Shubanshu Shukla virtually joined. Reflecting on her ex- perience during Expedition 72, Williams stated that it was a super difficult challenge, highlighting the importance and value of teamwork, communication and mutual sup- port. “It is a super difficult challenge to take, but we have been super fortunate in our time to see different things.. We have only taken different experiences that you have and added them into the spacecraft you are training for…”Williams said during the event. She further stated that the mission lasted longer than expected, giving lessons on team support and under- standing the importance of communication. “We only thought we were about to be up there for just a little time, but the biggest thing we have learnt from our expedition is the team support, and it has been our honor to even have learn a lot of things.. There was a lot of com- munication, which really helps the team, but one of the most important things we have learnt is that one needs to listen to each other and that teamwork is equally impor- tant,” she further added. The Expedition 72, which started with the departure of the Soyuz MS-25 in September 2024, was the 72nd long- duration mission to the International Space Station. The mission, where SunitaWilliams served as the Commander, conducted 1,000 hours of research on stud- ies including those of human health, materials science, biology and fire safety. Their work also included the enhancement of the metal 3D printing capabilities in orbit, preparing the first wooden satellite for deploymen,t among other tasks. The Expedition 72 crew also included cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. NASA Crew-9 astronauts SunitaWilliams, Nick Hague, ButchWilmore, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gor- bunov, reentered Earth’s atmosphere and breathed air for the first time in over nine months on March 18, following the successful splashdown of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule at 5:57 p.m. EDT. After their return, Wilmore andWilliams began physi- cal therapy at the Johnson Space Center to help their bodies readjust to Earth’s gravity. The therapy is a stan- dard procedure for astronauts returning from space. -ANI PHOTO:Al Drago /Bloomberg Director of the FBI Kash Patel speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Sept. 16. By Myles Miller and Chris Strohm