On his very first day of the job, the President signed orders to open up government and make it more responsive to the needs of the American people. To help meet the President's transparency goals, the FDA is implementing FDA-TRACK, a computer supported agency wide system to measure our performance. Four areas will be measured in FDA-TRACK. The first is common measures which are areas that apply to every office at the FDA. Second will be measures that Center Directors are choosing to keep track of. Third, we will track program measures - items that are unique to a given office. Fourth, the agency will keep track of key projects in each Center and Division.

Danica Marinac-Dabic, MD, PhD (Director, Division of Epidemiology, FDA Center for Devices and Radiologic Health) describes the Medical Device Epidemiology Network (MDEpiNet), FDA's innovative initiative to advance the methodologies of studying medical devices by building a collaborative network with academic institutions.  Through the partnership created between FDA and academic researchers, MDEpiNet will result in better information about medical devices and better decision-making by FDA, the device industry, medical professionals and patients.

Follow MDEpiNet's progress on the FDA-TRACK CDRH Office of Surveillance and Biometrics Dashboard.
 

Each year the average American consumes more than 200 eggs, and each year it is estimated that nearly 80,000 people get sick because the eggs they eat are contaminated with Salmonella.

Preventing illness before it occurs is the focus of the FDA's new food safety strategy.  The first place it is being implemented is with the production of eggs.  Follow FDA's progress in implementing the Egg Rule and in achieving our Food Safety Priority Goal to reduce the number of Salmonella Enteritidis illnesses related to eggs on the FDA-TRACK Egg-TRACK Dashboard.   

From styling our hair to showering before bed, Americans love cosmetics.

Most are safe, but some cause problems, and that's when the FDA gets involved. If you've had a negative reaction to a beauty, personal hygiene, or makeup product, report it to FDA. Learn more at Consumer Updates - Cosmetics.

The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition's (CFSAN) Office of Cosmetics and Colors (OCAC) created this consumer update as part of its FDA-TRACK key project to increase consumer awareness of adverse event reporting for cosmetics.  Follow OCAC's progress on the FDA-TRACK CFSAN Food and Cosmetic Safety Dashboard.   

The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) completed a study of the contaminated pet food recall in 2007, which identified melamine as the toxic substance that made many pets sick.  This video discusses what melamine is, how the substance contaminated the pet food, and how its presence was confirmed as the contaminant.

As a follow-on, the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) - Division of Biochemical Toxicology (DBT) is conducting a study to help FDA determine the chemical and biochemical properties of melamine and cyanuric acid that influence their toxicity and determine the appropriate amounts, if any, that should be allowed in human and animal food.  Follow the study's progress on the FDA-TRACK NCTR Research Divisions Dashboard (see Program Measures, Contamination of Human and Animal Food with Melamine and Cyanuric Acid).

The National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) - Division of Neurotoxicology (DN) is working on a collaborative study with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) that will help parents and doctors understand the risks of anesthesia so they are able to make better decisions about pediatric surgery. The importance of this study, known as SmartTots, is described in this video.

Follow this study's progress on the FDA-TRACK NCTR Research Divisions Dashboard (see Program Measures, Pediatric Anesthetics).  Detailed information on SmartTots can be found at: http://www.smarttots.org/.

The ¡Nunca Más! Novela Health Series was developed by the FDA Office of Women's Health to educate Hispanic women about safe medication use. The campaign uses four Spanish language video novelas (first episode shown here) and free health materials to showcase the dangers of medication misuse and to provide tips for using medicines wisely.  Click here to view all episodes on the FDA YouTube Channel.

Follow OWH's progress on the FDA-TRACK Office of the Chief Scientist Dashboard.