STAT+: How a young doctor rose from rural New Mexico to FDA commissioner nominee

In 2007, then-freshman Heidi Overton told a journalist her dream was to become a doctor and return to her small hometown, Gallup, New Mexico, to practice medicine. She was quoted in a story about a new program that allowed undergraduates like her to apply to the University of New Mexico’s medical school early.

Nearly 20 years later, Overton has not returned to Gallup — a city of 20,000 along Route 66 where her father still leads a charismatic church. Instead, she has leveraged her medical degree, rural background, and a “calm, reasoned” work style into becoming the youngest-ever nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration.