Peter Marks, MD, PhD

Director, FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)

Led FDA's biologics center during COVID-19 vaccine authorization and surveillance.

Timeline appearances (9)

  • analysis

    Szarfman raises COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring concerns with CBER Director Marks.

  • analysis

    Szarfman presents RGPS to Marks and other CBER officials, calling MGPS not state of the art.

  • analysis

    Szarfman shares DuMouchel's RGPS analysis showing 49 examples of extreme masking with senior FDA officials.

  • internal

    Forshee forwards Szarfman's mortality findings to Marks, expressing concern about her interpretation.

  • internal

    Anderson asks Marks that Szarfman refrain from using FDA email or communicating findings using CBER VAERS data.

  • internal

    Marks tells Cavazzoni that Szarfman has been asked to cease and desist on her vaccine analysis.

  • oversight

    Sen. Johnson writes to Collins, Walensky, Woodcock, Marks, and Shimabukuro about federal safety surveillance systems and reports of adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.

  • publication

    Walinsky circulates Szarfman's preprint to FDA officials weighing Moderna's pediatric COVID-19 vaccine appeal.

  • publication

    Forshee notifies Marks and Anderson that FDA officials are addressing issues with Szarfman's published paper.

Quotes (2)

  • "create erroneous conflicts that feed in to anti-vaccination rhetoric"
    Marks emailed CDER Director Cavazzoni complaining that Szarfman's data mining strategy could create erroneous conflicts feeding anti-vaccine rhetoric, and noted she had been asked to cease and desist. · 2021-09-15 view in /quotes/ →
  • "Ana Szarfman[] has decided on her own to do vaccine analysis using VAERS as part of her work at FDA. She is, however, not doing this in collaboration with our CBER statisticians, and quite to the contrary, has been asked to cease and desist, because the strategy that she is using could create erroneous conflicts that feed in to anti-vaccination rhetoric."
    Marks's full email to CDER Director Cavazzoni framing Szarfman's data mining as a distraction and threat. · 2021-09-15 view in /quotes/ →