On November 21st, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced changes to the agency’s leadership team. Dr. Denise Eblen, currently FSIS’ Assistant Administrator for the Office of Public Health Science, has been named agency Administrator. As Assistant Administrator for the Office of Public Health Science since 2018, Dr. Eblen has led the agency’s scientific analysis, including oversight of FSIS laboratories and testing of regulatory samples, risk assessment, and outbreak investigation and response. Drawing from her twenty-five years of experience at USDA, she will continue to steer FSIS in its efforts to use science-based decision making to modernize the agency’s inspection strategies, policies, and approaches to improve public health.
Current Administrator Paul Kiecker will take on the role of Assistant Administrator in the Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit, where he will apply his deep experience with the agency and his leadership capabilities to head FSIS’s investigation, enforcement, and audit functions. Mr. Kiecker has served FSIS for more than thirty years, beginning as a food inspector in 1988 and most recently serving as Administrator. These leadership changes will take effect Dec. 9, 2024.
