NIH director stepping down

National Institutes of Health Director Elias Zerhouni will leave the federal research agency at the end of October, he said Wednesday. 

Zerhouni, who has led the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since his confirmation in May 2002, will step down at the end of October, he told reporters on a conference call.

{mosads}President Bush is “completely supportive and understands” why he is leaving, said Zerhouni, who told the president of his plans “several weeks” ago.

“It is with mixed emotions that I move on,” Zerhouni said.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt praised Zerhouni in a statement. “Elias has been a powerful voice for the medical research community as the head of NIH,” he said.

As a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed official, Zerhouni would have had to resign when the next president takes office. He explained that he wanted to depart before then so Bush’s successor has to act quickly to replace him.

“I felt it would be in the best interests of the NIH for me to leave before the election,” Zerhouni said. With a vacancy in the directorship, he explained, when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) wins the presidential election in November, he would be more inclined to name a replacement, he said.

“I would want people to focus on NIH as early and as soon as possible after the election,” Zerhouni said, rather than assume the agency is in good hands already. Zerhouni said he has no interest in remaining in office under the next administration.

Zerhouni stated that “there’s no precipitating event” that led to his decision to vacate his position and rejected characterizing his departure as a resignation. “It’s just basically stepping down at the right time,” he said. “I’ve always said I would end my tenure at this time."

“I don’t have a job lined up,” Zerhouni said, adding he was going to commit some time to writing before seeking a new position. “I’m looking for the unemployment office,” he quipped.

Zerhouni has shepherded the $30 billion agency through a period of significant transition during his more than six years in office. His tenure has not been free of controversy.

The NIH chief publicly split with Bush over embryonic stem cell research. Months before Zerhouni took office, the president instituted a policy strictly limiting federal funding for the controversial research. Zerhouni openly criticized these limits, saying they stunted advancement in a field many believe could lead to new cures but others oppose because embryos are destroyed in the process.

Zerhouni oversaw an unusual period of change for the NIH’s budget. From 1998 to 2003, the agency’s budget doubled but has remained essentially flat since then.

The NIH endured an unprecedented level of negative scrutiny during Zerhouni’s directorship over agency researchers’ financial ties to drug companies. Under intense criticism from Congress, Zerhouni implemented strict new limits on NIH employees’ outside work, raising the ire of many at the agency.

The NIH’s efforts to increase public access to government-funded research also met with resistance from medical journal publishers and some researchers. As with his ethics reforms, Zerhouni said these steps were necessary to restore public trust in the agency.

Zerhouni also worked closely with Congress to enact legislation to reorganize the NIH and give the director more of a say over what research the agency funded. The NIH historically had operated in a decentralized way, with the heads of its 27 institutes and centers having more control over research priorities. The legislation enacted in 2006 followed Zerhouni’s internal efforts to increase the authority of the director’s office.

House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas), who chaired the committed when it wrote the NIH bill, said, “He has been an absolute jewel of a public servant. He has fulfilled the highest goals of the NIH with integrity and honor. He will be missed.”