Christopher Trudeau Selected to Serve on FDA’s Risk Communication Advisory Committee
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Christopher Trudeau, J.D.
Christopher Trudeau, J.D., an associate professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and an associate professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock) William H. Bowen School of Law, has been tapped to serve a four-year term on the Food and Drug Administration’s advisory committee on risk communication.
The Risk Communication Advisory Committee, created in 2007, advises the commissioner of Food and Drugs on ways to effectively communicate with the public about the risks and benefits of FDA-regulated products, allowing people to make more informed decisions about them. The committee also reviews and evaluates the FDA’s and other entities’ research related to the risks and benefits of those products.
“I am truly honored to be the only lawyer on this committee,” said Trudeau, who joined the UAMS Center for Health Literacy in 2017, teaching, consulting and doing program work. “Clearly communicating risk and regulatory information to the public is vitally important to the government’s transparency efforts, and I am happy to play a role in helping to advance those efforts.”
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can obtain, communicate, process, and understand the basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.
Trudeau’s appointment began in early October and runs through September 2022. The 15-member committee meets about four times a year. Its members are selected by the commissioner of Food and Drugs from among experts in fields including health literacy.
Through his appointment, Trudeau hopes to help make more impact in the regulatory world and further health literacy.
“Clarity and legal or regulatory information are not mutually exclusive,” said Trudeau. “It isn’t easy to explain complex information in clear, understandable ways, but the FDA is committed to doing that through this committee.”
Earlier this year, Trudeau was chosen to serve a three-year term on the Roundtable on Health Literacy with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. The private, nonprofit institution provides independent, objective analysis and advice and informs public policy related to science, technology and medicine. The 30-member roundtable meets in Washington, D.C. three times a year to develop, implement, and share health literacy practices in the health care community.
Trudeau received his law degree in 2002 from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School and served as a professor there for 13 years before coming to UAMS and UA Little Rock.
The UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law is located in downtown Little Rock. It has been named a Best Value Law School for eight consecutive years. It has also been named a 2018 Top Business Law School and a Best Public Interest Law School. It offers eight legal clinic programs and six concurrent degrees, including the only Juris Doctor/Master of Public Service in the United States in conjunction with the UA Clinton School of Public Service. To find out more about Bowen’s programs, visit ualr.edu/law. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; hospital; northwest Arkansas regional campus; statewide network of regional centers; and six institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,727 students, 870 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses throughout the state, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.