Brownstein Brings on David Dorsey as Strategic Advisor

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is pleased to announce that David Dorsey joins the firm as a strategic advisor in the Government Relations Department. He will be based in the Washington, D.C., office. 

“David has nearly three decades of experience working on the most challenging issues facing the health care industry. His government service, as the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) acting commissioner for policy and planning and as a top aide in the Senate, along with his 10 years of industry experience at a top pharmaceutical company, adds depth to our health care practice and will help deliver results for clients. David’s combination of legal knowledge and policy experience will help steer clients through complex health care legislation and regulatory activity, particularly concerning issues that arise with the FDA,” said Will Moschella, co-chair of Brownstein’s Government Relations Department. 

Dorsey has focused on FDA regulation and policy his entire career. At the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he worked in the Office of the Chief Counsel and the Office of the Commissioner, where he led the Office of Policy and Planning. In these roles he gained broad expertise on drug, medical device and food and dietary supplement regulation. Working on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions from 2001–2009, Dorsey led Sen. Edward Kennedy’s (D-MA) efforts on more than a dozen FDA bills enacted into law, including two authorizations of prescription drug and medical device user fees in 2002 and 2007 and the Hatch-Waxman amendments in the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill.

Following his public service, Dorsey moved to the private sector, spending more than 10 years with Johnson & Johnson in its pharmaceutical research sector and its government affairs and policy department. He identified and led advocacy efforts on regulatory and legislative issues that could impact the development and marketing of medical products in the United States and provided high-quality strategic advice to influence the health care environment.

Dorsey received his law degree from Yale Law School, master’s degree from Princeton and bachelor’s degree from Haverford College.