A Four Corners native could be next in line to lead the Food and Drug Administration with President Donald Trump’s nomination of Heidi Overton as the organization’s next commissioner.
Overton was born in Cortez and grew up in and around the Four Corners. Her parents pastored a church in Durango and one in Carlsbad, New Mexico, before settling in Gallup, New Mexico, where she graduated from Gallup High School.
She earned her medical degree from the University of New Mexico, where she served on the board of regents as a student.
It should “make all New Mexicans proud of her with an FDA appointment,” said former New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.
Martinez nominated Overton in 2013 to the board as a student regent, and the New Mexico Senate unanimously approved her appointment.
San Juan County District Attorney Jack Fortner served on the board of regents with Overton and has remained her close friend.
“We knew she was going to do something great,” he said. “She’s been a rock star from the beginning.”
When Fortner and Overton served together, he said no one thought of her as a student because “she was as knowledgeable and smart as everyone else on the board. She was just brilliant.”
Overton’s father, Bill, said “she is smart like her mom,” Natalie, who earned a nursing degree after being a stay-at-home mother who raised two daughters.
The Overton girls are both successful, according to her father, who said Heidi’s older sister went to school for engineering and became a rocket scientist.
“One day when I looked at my phone – my Find Friends – my oldest daughter was in the Pentagon and my youngest daughter was in the White House,” Bill said. “I literally was overwhelmed. I’m pinching my cheek. That’s my girls.”
Overton graduated from Gallup High School with honors as class valedictorian, but chose to share the honor.
“There were four girls that were very faith-filled. They were all the top of her class,” Bill said, adding when Heidi was valedictorian she shared the stage with the salutatorian and the two other girls. “She is that kind of a person – with a lot of character.”
Overton, who has served as the deputy director of the White House Policy Council, has a track record of demonstrating “a commitment to faster cures, lower prescription drug costs, greater transparency in healthcare, safer food, and putting patients at the center of America’s healthcare system,” according to the America First Policy Institute.
She has received criticism from some members of the Democratic Party for her anti-abortion stance and opposition to “gender-affirming care,” according to NPR.
Her father said Overton has always held a conservative viewpoint.
“She was just always steady and brought influence wherever she was in her class, and just been a rock everywhere she’s been,” he said, adding criticism from those who don’t share her views is not new to her.
“She’s faced that from the first time she stepped in a college class,” he said. “It doesn’t bother her. She can take them on.”
Overton was destined for greatness but was rooted in her home state, Bill said.
“She actually had scholarships to some very prestigious schools out of high school, and she turned them down because she loved New Mexico and the diversity. She loved the people,” Bill said.
The Overton girls were raised in a faith-filled home, as Bill is a pastor of a small congregation that has many Native American members.
“I’ve been very honored to serve these people,” he said, adding his work with Native Americans is what led him to Gallup.
Overton learned from her father to let her faith guide her.
“It’s her No. 1,” he said.
“She chose to do this because she wanted to serve her country,” Bill said. “She could be practicing medicine, but she chose to take a position to try to direct policy for better health for America.”
When Overton graduated from UNM, she was selected to enter Johns Hopkins University to study to be a surgeon. It was her work there researching the opioid crisis that “caught the attention of the White House,” Bill said.
She was asked to visit the White House, and while there, an administrative assistant asked her if she “ever thought of applying for the White House Fellows Program,” Bill said, adding Heidi was selected out of more than 2,000 applicants.
This was during Trump’s first term, and it also was when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the nation. Overton stayed in the position for more than a year and helped, which led to a shift in her career.
“She felt like her life had really changed directions,” Bill said, adding he could have seen Heidi in sports medicine, coaching a soccer team, because she loves sports.
“She’s always been very competitive,” he said.
Overton not only played soccer in high school, she played rugby in college.
“One night she called and told me, ‘God made rugby just for me,’” Bill said.
However, sports was not the path Overton was meant to follow, and her parents supported her decision.
Bill said he told her, “Well kid, you have to do ultimately what you feel you are supposed to be doing in life. If it’s a surgeon, great, if it’s not, we’re behind you.”
Overton’s achievements have left many, including Martinez, giving her accolades. Martinez said she is “incredibly proud” of Overton’s achievements and “the wonderful career she has had thus far.”
Martinez said Overton’s track record “shows the caliber of people who come from New Mexico.”
Fortner said when Overton finishes her work at the White House, he sees her coming home to lead UNM.
“She’s a true New Mexican and a true Lobo,” Fortner said. “We think the world of her. She is the neatest, godliest woman.”