Editor's Roundup
USDA people in the news

Michael Fernandez was named as associate administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service. He succeeded Tom O’Brien, who held that position from December 1997 until February 1999, and who is now deputy director of the Washington, DC office of California Governor Gray Davis.

Before joining USDA, from May 1995 until his recent appointment Fernandez served as a special assistant to the assistant administrator for pesticides, prevention, and toxic substances at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he concentrated on such issues as pesticide and food safety legislation, agricultural biotechnology, regulatory reform, and children’s environmental health policy.

Fernandez worked as a professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry from 1992-95, where he focused on issues related to agricultural biotechnology, agricultural research, and pesticide policy. From 1983-85 he worked in Cambridge, Mass., as a research technician for Biogen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical drug firm.

A native of St. Louis, Mo., Fernandez holds a B.A. degree in biology from Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., and a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Chicago.