Director, Office of Oversight

Office of Aerospace Medicine, Federal Aviation Administration

Nancy Rodriguez Brown was appointed Director of the Office of Oversight within the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Aerospace Medicine in October 2026, where she leads a broadened portfolio of programs that protect the traveling public and the National Airspace System.

As Director, Nancy continues to lead the FAA's oversight of drug and alcohol testing in the aviation industry and now also directs the agency's internal substance abuse program for its own workforce. She is responsible for two divisions. The Drug Abatement Division carries out compliance and enforcement through its Special Investigations Branch and its Central, Eastern, and Western Compliance and Enforcement Centers. The Compliance Oversight and Quality Division leads Program Administration, International Compliance and Oversight, the Internal Substance Abuse Program, and Quality Assurance. Together, these organizations help ensure that aviation employers and safety-sensitive employees in the United States and abroad, as well as the FAA's own workforce, meet drug and alcohol testing requirements.

Nancy previously served as Director of the Drug Abatement Division, a role to which she was appointed in July 2023 after serving as Deputy Director. Under her direction, the FAA published a congressionally mandated final rule in December 2024 extending drug and alcohol testing requirements to foreign repair stations that perform safety-sensitive maintenance for U.S. air carriers. The rule marks the most significant expansion of the FAA's drug and alcohol testing program since the advent of the program. Nancy led and continues to lead the effort to stand up the new program, working with foreign civil aviation authorities, international partners, and industry to build oversight of nearly 1,000 repair stations in more than 60 countries and to ensure that maintenance performed abroad meet equivalent safety standards as maintenance performed in the United States.

Nancy joined the FAA in 2014, bringing a diverse public service career that includes roles with the U.S. Congress, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Federal Railroad Administration. She holds a Master of Science in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Baltimore and a Master of Public Health from Howard University. Her multidisciplinary background shapes her approach to building strong organizations, developing leaders, and advancing aviation safety through regulation, enforcement, and public engagement.