Aura Cacia of Norway, IA, announced that Fred Bacher joined the company as vice president of sales, essentials.

NeoCell of Irvine, CA, partnered with Julie Russak, M.D., FAAD., a board-certified dermatologist in New York, NY, to be its new brand chief medical ambassador.

Mario Battaglia joined Global ID Group, Inc. of Fairfield, IA, as managing director, international.

Eric Schnell and Marci Zaroff have launched New York, NY-based BeyondBrands “to bring expertise, brand strategy and product creation and launch support to established and next-generation brands in the healthy living and sustainability marketplace.”

PLT Health Solutions, Inc. of Morristown, NJ, appointed Craig Stapleton as the company’s director of quality assurance.

Navitas Naturals of Novato, CA, announced that Peter Hartman was hired as vice president of sales.

Robert M. Califf was confirmed as the new commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Silver Spring, MD. Califf is no stranger to the agency. For the past year, he had been FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco. Before coming to FDA, Califf was a professor of medicine and vice chancellor for clinical and translational research at Duke University. He was also the director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute, the founding director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute and led numerous pharmaceutical clinical trials. His appointment has some individuals questioning whether his connections to the pharmaceutical industry are too strong. For instance, while at Duke, he received research funding from numerous drug companies, served as a consultant for some and had other involvement with them. Several industry groups like the Natural Products Association have reached out to Califf and the agency to schedule meetings to learn how Califf plans to enforce laws and regulations related to the supplement industry.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine April 2016