Brian King (born September 5, 1982) is an American epidemiologist who was the director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) from July 2022 to April 2025. As the nation's top regulator for tobacco products, he championed a public health lens towards regulation, during which cigarette smoking among U.S. adults reached below 10 percent for the first time in recorded history and tobacco product use among U.S. youth reached a 25-year low, including the lowest levels of youth e-cigarette use in a decade. He is currently the executive vice president for U.S. Programs at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Prior to joining FDA, he served as the deputy director for research translation in CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, and more recently as the Executive Editor of CDC's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report Series and as leadership for the agency's response to various public health emergencies, including COVID-19. Prior to his tenure at CDC, he was a research affiliate in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York.

He has authored more than 225 scientific journal articles related to tobacco prevention and control. He served as a senior editor for multiple U.S. Surgeon General's Reports on tobacco, including "Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General" (2020). He was also lead author of CDC's 2014 evidence-based guide for states, "Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs."

Early life and education

Brian Alexander King was born on September 5, 1982, in Rochester, New York, to Elaine Louise (née Tripi; 1949–2020) and Geoffrey Walrath King (born 1946). He is the second of three children born to both parents. His father is a University at Buffalo (SUNY)-educated optical physicist who has held various positions in the field with Xerox and at the University of Rochester. King's mother, an alumna of University at Buffalo (SUNY), was a medical technologist at Monroe Community Hospital prior to full-time motherhood. He is the third generation of his family to earn a college degree.

King grew up in Webster, New York, a suburb of Rochester. He was an ambitious child interested in science, government, and the creative arts. In high school, he served as vice president of the school's chapter of the National Honor Society, and as captain of the varsity tennis team. He is also an accomplished pianist, and performed at numerous community events, including The Great New York State Fair. In 1997, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America.

King attended Bishop Kearney High School in Irondequoit, New York (2000). After completing his primary and secondary studies, he was accepted to the University at Buffalo (SUNY), where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences with a minor in music. (2004). King went on to earn Master of Public Health (2006), and Doctor of Philosophy (2010) degrees in epidemiology at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). His doctoral dissertation advisor was Andrew Hyland, current chair of the Department of Health Behavior at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York.

Career Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center In 2005, King was hired as a quitline counselor at the New York State Smokers' Quitline, which is housed at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. Concurrently, he was also working within the organization's Department of Health Behavior to complete the thesis for his Master of Public Health degree at University at Buffalo (SUNY); the thesis was focused on socioeconomic variation in tobacco product advertising across Western New York. In 2006, upon completion of his master's degree, he was hired as a research affiliate within the Department of Health Behavior, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. The department was led at the time by Dr. K. Michael Cummings, and King reported directly to Dr. Andrew Hyland. Both had adjunct appointments at State University of New York at Buffalo, which enabled King to work at the Cancer Center concurrently to earning his PhD at the university.

During his time at Roswell Park, King led multiple projects, including those related to the observational assessment of tobacco advertising in retail venues, environmental assessments of particulate matter from secondhand smoke in indoor environments, and population-based collection of data on tobacco-related issues, including through the New York State Adult Tobacco Survey and the International Tobacco Control Survey. He also initiated seminal research on secondhand smoke exposure in multiunit housing, which was the first of its kind internationally. This included the first study to document secondhand smoke exposure between apartments in a single multiunit housing building using environmental assessments of airborne particulate matter.

While at Roswell Park, King served as principal investigator of multiple grants, including a grant from the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI) to assess secondhand smoke in multiunit housing, and an R36 dissertation grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess an intervention for enhanced adoption of smoke-free multiunit housing policies.

King first gained media experience during his time at Roswell Park, including serving as the organization's primary spokesperson during a press conference in 2008 to commemorate the 5-year anniversary of the 2003 New York State Clean Indoor Air Act.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) In July 2010, King joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) at CDC. He served as an EIS Officer during 2010–2012, during which he was assigned to the agency's Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. He led multiple field investigations, including a study of indoor air quality from secondhand smoke in hospitality venues throughout American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Following completion of EIS, he was hired as an epidemiologist in OSH, and promoted to senior scientific advisor in 2014. In 2015, he assumed the role of deputy director for research translation in OSH. In this role, King led the agency's efforts related to a variety of high profile matters, including the rise in e-cigarette use among U.S. youth, and the 2014 update to the evidence-based state guide, "Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs". He also served a critical role in the development and implementation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2016 rule that prohibited smoking in public housing nationwide. He is also credited with introducing the "Tobacco Control Vaccine" framework, which was featured on the cover of the scientific journal Tobacco Control in 2018.

In his role as deputy director for research translation in OSH, King was also responsible for leading the U.S. Surgeon General's Reports on tobacco for the U.S. Government under multiple presidential administrations. He served as a reviewer for the 2012 Surgeon General's Report "Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults"; an author of the 2014 Surgeon General's Report "The Health Consequences of Smoking-50 Years of Progress"; a senior editor of the 2016 Surgeon General's Report "E-cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults"; and a senior editor of the 2020 Surgeon General's Report "Smoking Cessation". He also led the 2018 Surgeon General's Advisory on E-cigarette Use Among Youth.

In March 2022, King was appointed the executive editor of CDC's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report series.During his tenure at CDC, King also served in various leadership capacities for the agency's responses to public health emergencies. He served as senior official for the agency's 2019 response to e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI). During 2020-2022, he served in various capacities for the agency's response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including as deputy lead of the Chief Medical Officer Unit, deputy and then lead of the Strategic Science Unit, and finally as chief science officer.

King also served on various inter-agency committees during his tenure at CDC. During 2015–2022, King served as CDC's ex officio delegate to FDA's Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC). During 2015-2022, he served as lead for Tobacco Use Objectives for Healthy People 2020 and Health People 2030.

King served as a primary spokesperson on tobacco-related issues for CDC during his tenure, and frequently participated in interviews with the news media from major national and international television, radio, and print outlets.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) In July 2022, King was appointed the director of FDA's Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) by FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf. In this role, he served as the lead tobacco regulatory official for the United States, and was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

King was the first scientist to be appointed as CTP director, with his two predecessors being a medical doctor and a lawyer, respectively. King's appointment was applauded by public health organizations and the scientific community, and criticized by some industry organizations, most notably e-cigarette advocacy organizations. A few weeks after King's arrival as center director, the FDA commissioner requested an independent evaluation of the center's programmatic activities by the Reagan-Udall Foundation. Following the evaluation, a new strategic plan was released under King's leadership in December 2023. King assumed the role of CTP director during a period when FDA was embroiled in multiple high profile controversies, including the agency's decision to issue an administrative stay of its June 2022 marketing denial order to JUUL labs for its e-cigarette products; delays in the agency's review of premarket tobacco product applications, including its newly afforded authority by the U.S. Congress to regulate tobacco products containing synthetic nicotine; criticism over the agency's compliance and enforcement actions, particularly against e-cigarettes; and the resignation of CTP's Office of Science director, Dr. Matthew Holman, to assume a new role at Philip Morris International, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes. King publicly referred to his first several months at FDA as "baptism by blowtorch".

King's tenure as CTP director coincided with several high-profile efforts to push back on tobacco industry litigation against FDA; this included decisions by the U.S. Solicitor General to successfully appeal a decision by the U.S. Fifth Circuit in RJ Reynolds v. FDA that blocked FDA's rule to require graphic warning labels on cigarette packs in the United States, and to appeal a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Cigar Association of America v FDA that vacated the agency's ability to regulate premium cigars. In July 2024, at the request of FDA, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the agency's defense of its premarket application decisions denying authorization of certain flavored e-cigarettes in FDA v Wages and White Lion.  On April 2, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in FDA's favor. Additionally, in October 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear RJ Reynolds Vapor Co. v FDA, in which the FDA challenged the company's use of "forum shopping" by strategically choosing to file suit in a circuit that is likely to be more favorable to them (i.e. the Fifth Circuit, which has been criticized for rulings undermining public health) rather than the most appropriate venue based on federal statute (i.e. the DC Circuit).