Nancy M. Ostrove, Ph.D., is Chief of Research and Review in the FDA’s Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications (DDMAC).  Dr. Ostrove received her doctoral degree in social psychology from the University of Maryland at College Park. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

     Dr. Ostrove taught psychology at Lake Erie College in Ohio for three years.  In addition, she conducted applied psychological and survey research for the Stress Management Office of the Montgomery County Police Department; Porter Novelli, a Washington D.C. public relations firm; and the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina.

     Dr. Ostrove began her work in the DDMAC in 1989.  She currently works on research, consulting, and policy, related to communicating prescription drug information to consumers and health care professionals.  She has planned and conducted tests of consumer perceptions of specific prescription drug advertisements, as well as, conducted surveys of physician perceptions of drug product labeling, and consumer perceptions of consumer-directed promotion of prescription drugs.

     In addition to her duties as the agency’s expert on consumer-directed prescription drug promotion, she has also been crucially involved in the FDA’s initiative to encourage the private sector to ensure that patients receive comprehensive information about their prescription medicines.  Moreover, she is devoted to the initiative to revamp the format of prescription drug labeling, in order to make it more useful for prescribers.