Brian King Has Finally Agreed To Talk About Vaping and Harm Reduction

Since 2022, Dr. Brian King has been the Director of the FDA for tobacco control and smoking prevention. However, he has not, as of yet, participated in public conversations on vaping and harm reduction. Which he is ready to do this February. More precisely, in a virtual event moderated by the American Vapor Manufacturers Association (AVM) on February 24th at 1:00 p.m. EST.

The conversation is entitled “The Future of Vaping in the US: A Conversation with FDA’s Dr. Brian King”, and will be open to the general public, who will be able to submit questions for Dr. King to answer. However, all participants must register in advance to participate.

But why exactly is this Q&A session so important? Well, let’s start with who Dr. King is and his stance on vaping.

Who Is Dr. Brian King?

Brian King holds a Ph.D. and M.P.H. in epidemiology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and was appointed as Director of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) in July 2022. His main responsibilities are the assurances that the organization accomplishes public health goals and operationalizes the vision and mission of the center while implementing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

Before joining the FDA, Dr. King served as Deputy Director for Research and Translation in the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and as the Executive Editor of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Series. Most of his work has been geared towards publishing and editing evidence-based reports and guides, from what we can take from Dr. King’s FDA biography.

Dr. King’s History With Vaping

It could be said that Brian King has a long anti-vaping history. As a former employee of the CDC, Dr. King advanced in his career from Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer to Senior Scientific Advisor and finally took a leap into his role as Deputy Director for Research Translation at OSH.

Throughout his career, Dr. King had frequent collaborations with multiple anti-tobacco organizations. Perhaps the most noteworthy being the Truth Initiative and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

What stands out is that Dr. King had no regulatory or management experience when he took the FDA job but his anti-vaping stance was well known to the public and to the FDA.

However:

It’s not our job to appoint the director of anything within the FDA. But it is our job to note the details that stand out from certain appointments. Well, the good thing is that Dr. King will be available on February 24th to take and answer questions. So, make sure you register now, especially if you run a vape business.