The acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration will be in Lawrence next week for a summit on safety in the pharmaceutical industry.

Lester Crawford, who also is President Bush’s nominee for the commissioner post, will speak as part of “Managing Risk in the Pharmaceutical and Food Safety Chains in a Risk Adverse Society,” a daylong, invitation-only event Wednesday at the Adams Alumni Center at Kansas University.

“Any time you can get a head of an agency to talk for a day, that’s a great experience,” said Donna Johnson, president of Pinnacle Technologies in Lawrence and an event planner. “In most cases, these meetings lead to an ongoing dialogue.”

The summit is being organized by state Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, who was out of the country Friday and unavailable for comment.

Wednesday’s lineup includes researchers from Kansas University, an attorney, a clinical pharmacist and an entrepreneur.

Topics will include assessing drug risk to patients, consumers and the environment. Other topics will include customizing drugs for specific patients and protecting the food supply.

Crawford will speak Wednesday afternoon on “The Role of Regulation in Managing Public Health Research, Trials and Delivery in a Risk Adverse Environment.”

Crawford is a former chairman of the department of physiology and pharmacology at the University of Georgia and is a former deputy commissioner of the FDA.

As FDA acting commissioner, Crawford has been involved in a number of hot-button topics, including the importation of drugs from Canada, the ban on anti-cholesterol drugs and protecting the nation’s food supply from bioterrorism.

He recently drew fire when he was directed by Bush not to testify before the House Appropriations Committee, a decision that led the committee to cut the FDA’s funding by $6 million for next year.

Johnson said Wednesday’s event would give researchers and others from Kansas and Missouri a chance to have input in the FDA’s processes.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “KU people sitting around, or people in the community of Lawrence or Kansas City can talk among ourselves. But we don’t have any true impact on the process.”