The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched the advisory committee membership nomination portal, an online, interactive system that allows interested individuals to submit nominations for membership to any of the agency’s 33 advisory committees.

The portal will enable nominees to submit their application for membership on an advisory committee from the FDA’s website, creating a paperless, streamlined process that will enable the agency to accept, evaluate, and ultimately nominate qualified individuals for membership in a timely fashion.

“The portal allows applicants to complete their entire application online,” said Jill Hartzler Warner, J.D., acting associate commissioner of the FDA’s Office of Special Medical Programs. “Applicants will experience an interactive, step-by-step process that eliminates confusion and accelerates the timeframe for submitting and processing an application.”

The system will securely store all applicant information and enable the FDA to develop metrics for assessing the entire applicant pool to identify qualified candidates to fill specific vacancies on advisory committees. Currently, applications must either be emailed or mailed to the agency.

Nominations for scientific members and consumer and industry representatives may be submitted by professional societies, industry and consumer groups, and other interested persons and organizations. Potential candidates are asked to provide detailed information concerning such matters as financial holdings, employment, and research grants and/or contracts in order to permit evaluation of possible sources of conflict of interest.

In conjunction with the launch of the nomination portal, the FDA is also posting a set of presentation slides on conflicts of interest for potential members, which can help in answering preliminary questions applicants may have on this important topic.

Advisory committees provide the FDA with independent, expert advice on a range of complex scientific, technical, and policy issues. The FDA seeks to include the views of women and men, members of all racial and ethnic groups, and individuals with and without disabilities on its advisory committees and, therefore, encourages nominations of appropriately qualified candidates from these groups.