Barbara Cassens, Director of Office of Partnerships, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Over the last 34 years, Barbara Cassens, Director of Office of Partnerships at U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has made significant contributions to bringing federal, state, local and international regulatory and public health partners together.

At the end of this year, she’ll be retiring, passing the torch of food and public health safety to the next generation of leaders.

When Cassens first started as an investigator, she said she took a 50% pay cut to be able to do a job that was rewarding for her and would ultimately set her up for success for a fulfilling career. Cassens credits finding the right mentors who helped navigate the direction of her career; she’s now able to be a mentor and a coach to younger individuals.

“Get to know the individual, what their drivers are and what’s important to them,” she said. “You can ask them where they see their career going, but many times when you’re starting out, you’re not quite sure, so help that person.”

Looking back on her career, Cassens said one program that’s made an impact on the industry is federal/state rapid response teams, which respond quickly to an outbreak, identify the contaminated product(s) and work with industry to remove it from consumer channels.

“FDA cannot cover the public’s needs alone. It is essential that we do this together with state, local, territorial and tribal partners,” she said. “Who can take the quickest action against contaminated product? Who can take a sustained action, and how do we work together to make that positive public health impact?”

We sat down with Cassens at the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) Annual Educational Conference in June to discuss her career in government and the important role she plays in helping craft the future of the food safety industry.

Coming from the [food safety] industry to government, I haven’t seen so much red tape in my life. I was always used to making decisions, and then was being told I had to check with my supervisor.

The language used in government was pretty foreign to me. The industry can be misunderstood, but it’s very diverse, especially the food and medical products industry. We need to learn how to communicate better.

My job during FSMA implementation was to lead a team to redesign inspections and compliance for the agency. We started throwing around some ideas and changes, and I waited too long to bring in the people who did not see eye-to-eye on the direction we wanted to go. I got a lot of push back. I learned that I should have brought them in earlier, even though there would’ve been controversy, and it would be a lot harder to manage the group.

Listen to your folks and understand what they’re trying to tell you.

If you’re going to be a mentor, do some research and understand what the difference is between a mentor and a coach. I just blend the two together. I believe it’s better to choose someone who doesn’t think like you.

Find those one or two people you can use as a sounding board.

The biggest struggle that I’ve had in my career is managing my work-life balance. I was so driven in the beginning that I ruined relationships with people, and I had failures in my marriage because I was so driven in my career. What I’ve learned now is to step away and say, “I’m going to accomplish these three things today,” and then give yourself a break.

We’re going through a big change with the FDA human foods program, and that is going to be the biggest challenge for the person who follows me. I will be around a little bit to help coach and mentor them, but, for the most part, the office of partnerships will be plug-and-play with the new human foods program. There will be processes, procedures and structured communication we’re going to have to work out.

I still dream that someday we’re going to have an integrated food safety system where industry, consumers are not going to need to know if an inspector is state, federal, county or city, because we will all have the same public health goals. We will train together and collaborate together to make it a strong public health workforce.