Where Are They Now · Profile 11
Margaret Hamburg
Margaret A. "Peggy" Hamburg, MD, 21st FDA Commissioner (2009–2015).
Claims are labeled Documented, Allegation or Open question. An allegation or open question is not a finding of wrongdoing.
Who she was in the COVID era
- She was out of government before COVID: FDA Commissioner 2009–2015. Documented Source: FDA leadership page
- The film clip is pre-COVID. Her lines at 01:36:59 ("major crisis… throwing money at things that sound good… U-shaped curve of concern") come from the Oct 29, 2019 Milken Institute panel "Making Influenza History: The Quest for a Universal Vaccine." C-SPAN aired it Nov 1, 2019, with Anthony Fauci and Rick Bright on the same panel. Documented (that the panel and lineup exist; the quote should be matched to the transcript before publishing) Sources: Milken panel page; C-SPAN; Internet Archive C-SPAN2 recording
- During COVID she co-authored COVID public-health commentary with Victor Dzau. Documented Source: Issues in Science and Technology interview with Dzau and Hamburg
In the film: clips and timecodes
- 01:36:59–01:37:41 — "major crisis… throwing money at things that sound good… U-shaped curve of concern." (Hamburg, Milken panel (Oct 29, 2019))
- Full timecodes are in the annotated transcript.
How COVID-era money shows up in the record
- The husband / Renaissance Technologies conflict (her FDA years). Her husband, Peter F. Brown, was co-CEO of the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, which held large pharma positions, including Johnson & Johnson. Critics argued this was a conflict because federal ethics rules treat a spouse's holdings as the employee's. Documented (reporting; "conflict" is the critics' characterization)
- Gates Foundation adviser: Broken Truth reports that Hamburg sits on the Gates Foundation's Global Health Scientific Advisory Committee. Documented (per BrokenTruth.com, which links her committee listing) Source: BrokenTruth.com (Jan 13, 2025) Sources: Long Island Business News, Jan 6, 2017; BMJ, "Revolving doors…" (2024)
- Opioids: under Hamburg, FDA approved Zohydro ER (2013) despite an 11–2 advisory panel vote against it. Documented (reporting) Source: LIBN, "Poison pills" (2016)
- RICO suit: a Levaquin-related civil racketeering suit named Hamburg (Aston v. Johnson & Johnson). It was dismissed in 2017; the court found the allegations implausible. Documented Sources: Aston v. J&J, 248 F. Supp. 3d 43 (D.D.C. 2017); AHRP on the filing
- Post-FDA industry board: joined Alnylam Pharmaceuticals' board. Documented Source: Alnylam release
Consequences
- None found against her personally. The RICO suit was dismissed (2017). Documented
Where is she now
- Chair of The Commonwealth Fund (elected Dec 2023). Documented Source: Commonwealth Fund release, Dec 20, 2023
- Boards: Alnylam, The Nature Conservancy (global board), Carnegie Endowment, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; co-president of the InterAcademy Partnership. Documented (secondary sources) Sources: The Nature Conservancy; AmAcad; Equilar
Top sources
- BrokenTruth.com on Hamburg's Gates advisory role (Jan 13, 2025)
- Milken panel (Oct 2019) / C-SPAN
- LIBN on the Renaissance conflict
- Commonwealth Fund chair release
Last reviewed November 2026 (research pass Nov. 2–3, 2026). This profile is updated as new records surface. Corrections: Press@EpidemicOfFraud.com