FDA Names Top HHS Lawyer as Chief Counsel

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that Sean Keveney has been appointed Chief Counsel at the FDA. Keveney most recently served as Acting General Counsel of HHS, where he led the Department's legal team in advancing key administration priorities and ensuring rigorous legal standards across public health programs.

"America is in a golden age of food and drug regulation," said FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary. "From modernizing the agency to address national priorities to phasing out the petroleum-based food dyes linked to behavior disorders in children, the FDA is accomplishing things under the Trump Administration that few previously thought possible. Sean Keveney's appointment as our Chief Counsel reflects the talent and experience we have brought to FDA for the mission to Make America Healthy Again."

As Acting General Counsel at HHS, Keveney led the Department's work for the Trump Administration on one of the most successful discrimination crackdowns in American history. HHS found that Harvard University and Columbia University through their medical schools violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and completed Title VI investigations of Brown University and Duke University. The Trump Administration subsequently reached settlements with Columbia and Brown, requiring Columbia to undergo three years of independent monitoring for compliance with federal law, and prohibiting Brown from performing gender reassignment surgeries on minors or prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to them.

A career public servant with previous senior roles in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, Keveney clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for Judge William Garwood, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. His leadership at HHS spanned major litigation, civil rights enforcement, and regulatory reform.

Robert Foster, the Department's Principal Deputy General Counsel, will assume the role of Acting General Counsel of HHS. He will remain FDA Chief Counsel for Food, Research, and Drugs. Foster has deep experience in administrative law and public health litigation and has been a trusted advisor to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on matters ranging from vaccine regulation to bioethics.

President Trump earlier this year nominated Michael Stuart, a member of the West Virginia Senate and former United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, as General Counsel of HHS. The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance held his nomination hearing on July 31, 2025.