Karen Hulebak is the assistant administrator of the Office of Public Health and Science in the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

From March 1999 until her selection for this position Hulebak served as the senior advisor for scientific affairs in FSIS. She was senior science policy advisor and director of the Policy Research Staff in the Commissioner’s Office at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 1994-99, where her focus included the development and management of the President’s Food Safety Initiative.

From 1992-94 Hulebak worked as the senior staff officer for liaison to the White House Federal Coordinating Committee on Science and Technology for the assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She was a senior manager at ENVIRON Corp., a private-sector consulting firm based in Arlington, Va., from 1990-92. From 1985-90 she directed the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council’s program of risk and exposure assessment studies and served as the deputy director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology.

Kaye Wachsmuth, the previous assistant administrator of the Office of Public Health and Science in FSIS, retired from that position following over 32 years of federal service. •