Human Longevity (HLI), the genomics-based, technology-driven company, has announced that Sally Howard, J.D., has been hired as head of regulatory affairs and policy. Howard, who has more than two decades of health policy and regulatory expertise, will lead all efforts related to federal and state regulatory oversight for HLI.

Howard comes to HLI from the FDA, where she most recently was senior advisor and acting chief of staff to the FDA Commissioner. In that role, Howard coordinated the FDA’s response to rapidly emerging issues such as bacteria resistant infections from medical equipment and response to adverse events from compounded drugs.

She also spent two years as FDA deputy commissioner for policy, planning and legislation, during which time she directed the team implementing the White House’s Precision Medicine Initiative. She and her team were responsible for developing a standards based approach for ensuring accuracy of genomic tests, and the use of genomic data and databases for clinical and diagnostic use. She was also a key leader on FDA legislative initiatives such as the 21^st Century Cures initiative, which seeks to modernize the approach to patient-centered drug development, and the development of biomarkers.

Prior to her role at the FDA, Howard spent two years as chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where she worked directly with the Secretary and senior agency and administration leadership to develop and implement policy priorities including the Affordable Care Act and new standards for Electronic Health Records.

Howard brings extensive legal expertise including from her role as deputy general counsel at HHS and chief counsel to the office of then Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Howard spent 10 years in private practice in Kansas, where she litigated a variety of health and medical issues including, medical malpractice, physician licensure issues and risk management efforts.