WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration’s head of medical device safety, Ross “Rusty” Segan, was among those terminated by the Trump administration this weekend.

Center of Devices and Radiological Health chief Michelle Tarver informed staff of the news in an email reviewed by STAT. Segan started in the role in September, so he was in his probationary two-year period with the agency. Tarver also noted that a “significant” number of device center employees were let go.

Jim Jones, head of the Food & Drug Administration's (FDA) food division, reportedly resigned on Monday, citing widespread layoffs that he believes will hinder regulatory progress. Jones, who led the recent ban on the Red No. 3 dye, called the cuts "indiscriminate," noting that 89 staffers, including experts in food safety and nutrition, were dismissed, Bloomberg reported. Given the new administration's "disdain for the very people" needed to make these changes, it would be "fruitless for me to continue in this role," he wrote in his resignation letter to Acting...

Jim Jones became the FDA's first deputy commissioner for human foods in 2023. (Christopher Dilts for WSJ) Jim Jones, a deputy commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, resigned Monday following what he called the “indiscriminate firing” of nearly 90 staff members. “It has been increasingly clear that with the Trump administration’s disdain for the very people necessary to implement your agenda... it would have been fruitless for me to continue in this role,” Jones said in a letter to FDA's acting commissioner seen by The Wall Street Journal....