Kessler to Lead Yale Medical School

Departing Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David A. Kessler, who battled the tobacco industry and declared nicotine a drug, was named dean of the Yale Medical School. Kessler said he is going to Yale to be at the forefront of shaping medical minds and making discoveries. “These are the places where the real work gets done,” Kessler told a news conference. “This all comes down to training the next generation of, not just leaders, but healers.” Kessler, a 45-year-old pediatrician and lawyer, was appointed by President Bush in 1990 to clean up the FDA after a generic-drug scandal. He stayed on during the first Clinton administration, announcing his resignation in late November.