On Tuesday, the Obama administration gave the name of Dr. Robert Califf, a cardiologist and clinical researcher long affiliated with Duke University, for the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Senate hasn't confirmed the post yet, but Dr. Califf is not expected to face serious opposition. The 63-year-old cardiologist has served in many roles at Duke University Medical Center from 1982 to 2015, such as director of the cardiac care unit.

In 2006, Dr. Califf founded the Duke University Clinical Research Institute and was its director. He has been a part of a number of professional organizations, like committees of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. In March, Dr. Califf became the deputy commissioner for medical products and tobacco at the FDA.

If the nomination of Dr. Califf gets confirmation, than he will be taking the helm of one of the most far-reaching federal agencies.

As commissioner, Dr. Califf would have to deal with a number of difficult questions on some of the biggest public health issues of the day, including the opioid painkiller abuse epidemic, obesity and the rise of electronic cigarettes.

Besides this, he would also have to steer the agency through an era in medicine wherein discoveries in the area of genetics have transformed treatments, and made them far more individualized.

Dr. Robert Harrington, professor and chairman of the department of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who was a colleague of Dr. Califf at Duke, said, "He's never forgotten that at his core he's a doctor, and he cares deeply about providing evidence to help people take better care of patients".