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(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Heidi Overton is appearing before a Senate committee on Thursday for her confirmation hearing as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Overton was nominated in August by President Donald Trump, who described her in a post on social media as a “ROCKSTAR in my Administration.”

She is sitting before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, where she is likely to face questions about childhood vaccines and the abortion drug mifepristone.

If confirmed, Overton will be the second person to lead the FDA after the previous commissioner, Marty Makary, resigned following public clashes with lawmakers, major pharmaceutical companies and Trump over fruit-flavored vapes.

Kyle Diamantas has served as acting FDA commissioner since May 2026.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chair of the HELP committee, began the hearing by asking Overton if the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine Is lethal. Overton replied it is not.

When asked if the vaccine is safe and effective, Overton reiterated that the vaccine is safe and effective against measles.

“Are there any vaccines on the U.S. market right now which are unsafe?” Cassidy asked.

“Senator, every vaccine on the U.S. market right now is safe and effective, according to the FDA,” Overton said.

Cassidy attempted to press Overton on whether she disagreed with the president on the safety and efficacy of the MMR vaccine, but Overton deflected from answering directly.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa., asked Overton if she believes mifepristone is safe and effective. Kennedy launched an FDA safety review of the drug last year.

“I know that it has met the safety and efficacy standard according to the FDA review,” Overton replied.

Murray expressed concern over an article she said Overton published three years ago, which she said described medication abortion as dangerous to women.

She also asked if Overton believed an IUD is an abortifacient, which is a substance used to induce an abortion or terminate a pregnancy. Overton did not answer directly.

“If I’m confirmed as FDA commissioner, I’ll be fully briefed on all their prior decisions and make determinations according to the standards of safety and efficacy,” Overton said.

She has espoused anti-abortion views and supported reductions to the childhood immunization schedule. At the executive order signing, she touted the use of what she called “gold-standard science” and restoring vaccination authority to parents.

Overton was nominated for the job, in part, because she is a loyalist of the president, two sources familiar with the nomination tell ABC News.

She’s been described as a loyal staffer, particularly in the presidents’ efforts to overhaul the childhood vaccine schedule, according to a former senior administration official.

“Why would you not want your own loyalist in there?” the source said about Trump’s choice, adding “She [Overton] kind of goes along with things.” The former official supports Overton but has previously acknowledged that, “She’s been in the world of politics for a long time and understands everything’s about loyalty.”

Overton is a physician with a doctor of medicine degree from the University of New Mexico and also holds a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.

Prior to her role as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, she was vice chair of the America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI) Center for a Healthy America, where Overton was also the chief policy officer, a nonprofit that aims to advance policies that it says put the American people first. AFPI was run by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins before Rollins was tapped to join the president’s Cabinet.

Several Trump administration officials held positions there before he was reelected, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

Prior to the hearing, Cassidy expressed “strong concerns” about Overton’s nomination because of her participation in the White House executive order overhauling the childhood vaccine schedule.

“That alone is almost disqualifying,” Cassidy wrote in a post on X.

Cassidy, a physician and liver doctor, has long championed the efficacy of vaccines and has grilled Trump’s health officials on their willingness to stand up to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including recently installed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Erica Schwartz.

In a statement to ABC News, Democratic Women’s Caucus Chairwoman Teresa Leger Fernández slammed the nomination.

“I call on my colleagues in the Senate to reject her nomination,” Fernández wrote, adding “Overton has publicly denied scientific fact and repeatedly launched conspiratorial attacks against our right to abortion access, the safety of mifepristone, and Planned Parenthood.”

Fernández added: “She is not qualified to serve as FDA Commissioner, and her extremist beliefs and loyalty to the Trump administration will put the lives of millions of women at risk.”

In a statement, Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, also criticized her nomination.

“The fact that Dr. Overton played a central role in an executive order that shrinks the childhood vaccine schedule and calls for splitting MMR into shots that don’t exist, all without new evidence, calls into question her scientific judgement,” Adalja said. “The fact that she has garnered the praise of the nation’s chief anti-vaccine propagandist, Secretary Kennedy, is also concerning.”

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(NEW YORK) — Missouri health officials are warning of a possible measles exposure at Busch Stadium and nearby local businesses in St. Louis and the larger county.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS) said the possible exposures occurred between Sept. 12 and Sept. 14 and included local bars, a cafe, a restaurant, a sandwich shop, a grocery store and a convenience store.

The health department said exposed individuals should monitor for measles symptoms for 21 days starting from the date of exposure.

If symptoms appear, individuals are recommended to contact their local public health agency. Additionally, those who think they have measles should isolate themselves and call their healthcare provider before arriving to be tested.

The MDHSS did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment on the possible exposures.

Earlier this month, MDHSS announced a possible measles exposure at a train station in Sedalia, Missouri, after a vaccinated individual boarded a Chicago-bound train on Aug. 27.

About a week later, the St. Louis County Department of Public Health said a second individual who boarded the train on Aug. 27 was confirmed to have measles. The second individual was fully vaccinated and is the first case of measles in a county resident in 20 years, according to DPH.

The potential measles exposures at Busch Stadium and the St. Louis region is the third case linked to “train exposure in Missouri,” the health department said.

“Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to protect ourselves, our families and our community from measles,” Dr. Kanika Cunningham, director of the Saint Louis County Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “We encourage residents to review their vaccination status, monitor for symptoms and contact their healthcare provider before seeking care if they believe they may have been exposed.”

Measles cases in the U.S. have surpassed 3,400 so far in 2026 with cases confirmed in 45 states and Washington, D.C., according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective against preventing measles infection and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says.

However, CDC data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years. During the 2025 to 2026 school year, 92.4% of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine, according to data. This is lower than the 95.2% seen in the 2019 to 2020 school year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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(NEW YORK) — Eating more ultra-processed foods is linked to higher health risks, including death, according to a new study published in Family Medicine and Community Health. 

Researchers found that consuming higher amounts of ultra-processed foods increased the risk of heart disease, strokes, obesity, diabetes, depression and anxiety, digestive issues, and cancer. 

Ultra-processed foods contain “significant amounts of added sugars, salts, fats” and can be hyper-palatable, meaning they are engineered to taste especially appealing, Maya Feller, a registered dietitian, told ABC News. 

Examples include packaged snacks, processed meat products, cookies, cakes, sugary drinks, and many ready-to-eat meals. 

“Ultra-processed food is one of the major problems in public health,” Dr. Xiao Liu, lead author of the study, a physician at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital and research fellow at Duke-NUS Medical School, told ABC News.

In the study, researchers examined the intake of ultra-processed foods globally, by reviewing over 50 studies that evaluated the diets of nearly 9 million adults worldwide over a timeframe ranging from 2 to 32 years. 

The risk of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States, was found to increase by 24% after consuming higher amounts of ultra-processed foods. 

The more people ate ultra-processed foods, the higher their risk of poor health outcomes. Each additional 100 grams a day was linked to a 14% higher heart risk and an 11% higher blood pressure risk. 

Higher consumption of ultra-processed foods was also linked to a higher risk of metabolic diseases, with the risk of diabetes increasing 24% and the risk of obesity increasing 23%.

More than 100 million Americans in the United States are living with obesity and more than 22 million have severe obesity, according to numbers from the CDC. The agency also found that the average American gets over half their daily calories from ultra-processed foods. 

Not all processed foods are the same,  Feller said, using an apple to explain the difference.

“You have a tree with apples, and the apples on the tree are in their whole form. You take the apple off the tree, and that is a step of processing. You slice the apple. That’s another step of processing. You puree the apple. You haven’t added anything to it. That’s also processing,” she said.

As more ingredients are added, the food becomes more processed, she explained.

Canned vegetables, cheese, and freshly made bread are considered processed because salt, sugar, or oil may have been added to preserve them. Unprocessed or minimally processed foods can include fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, eggs, milk, beans, grains, meat, and fish that do not have salt, sugar, oils or additives.  

When shopping, Feller said consumers can look at ingredient lists to get a better sense of how processed a food is.

“Flip the package over, and if the front says blueberries, then the ingredient list should say blueberries,” she said.

For people trying to limit ultra-processed foods without significantly increasing their grocery bills, frozen and canned foods can still be useful options.

“Go to the freezer section. Look for frozen vegetables, frozen fruits, frozen grains that have nothing added to them,” Feller added. 

She also recommended lower-sodium canned foods and affordable staples such as pasta, rice and beans.

For parents trying to help children make healthier choices, Feller noted that strict control may be less realistic than education and modeling healthy habits at home.

“We can’t control what they do when they have at lunch,” she said. “Once they’ve left the house, it’s about education, positive modeling and open conversation.”

She added that family meals give parents more control over the foods children are exposed to at home, while conversations about nutrition can help guide the choices they make on their own.

Feller says that people do not need to eliminate all ultra-processed foods from their diets. Instead, the research points to the potential benefits of reducing overall intake as a more reachable goal.

“Don’t expect that you’re going to swap your pantry over or your refrigerator overnight,” Feller said. “Choose two or three things that you eat on a regular basis that are ultra-processed and think about swapping those out for things in their whole or minimally processed form.” 

The researchers noted that people can lower their risk of these health conditions by improving their diets, which include limiting ultra-processed foods and eating more vegetables and fruits. 

“In our modern society, our diet and food is maybe not safe… we should eat more vegetables and reduce the ultra-processed food to make us healthier,” said Liu. 

Dr. Ashley Thomas is board-certified in internal medicine, board-eligible in occupational and environmental medicine, and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

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