STAT+: NIAID appoints new acting director after weekslong questions over leadership

Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. Follow her on Mastodon and Bluesky . You can reach Helen on Signal at hbranswell.01.

The National Institutes of Health has appointed researcher John Powers III to lead its infectious disease institute on an acting basis, after weeks of being in leadership limbo following reports that the previous director, Jeffery Taubenberger, had stepped down .

The appointment of Powers, previously a senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Taubenberger’s deputy, comes at a moment of heightened attention for the institute. The NIH’s second-largest agency, responsible for $6.5 billion worth of funding, has been without a permanent leader since the ousting of Jeanne Marrazzo last March. In recent weeks, a handful of other top leaders have also been reassigned to other posts, causing lawmakers to express concern about the bench of infectious disease expertise at a time of alarm over the recent hantavirus outbreak and the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa .

The news was announced to NIH staff in an email, seen by STAT, sent Tuesday morning. Powers “brings extensive experience in clinical infectious diseases, clinical research, regulatory science and public health leadership,” the email said.

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