Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Scientist Dr. Mary Klotman Is A Lead Candidate To Head Up NIH
Houston Chronicle: Dr. Mary Klotman, Duke University School Of Medicine Dean, In Running To Be Director Of NIH
Dr. Mary Klotman, a Duke University scientist and spouse of Baylor College of Medicine president Dr. Paul Klotman, is in the running to become the next director of the National Institutes of Health. She had several conversations with senior administration officials, as first reported by the Washington Post. Dr. Mary Klotman couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, but Dr. Paul Klotman confirmed she was in the running with the Chronicle. “I am not sure that the NIH could find a more qualified candidate with her background as a scientist, a dean and an academic leader,” Dr. Paul Klotman said. (Carballo, 5/4)
The Washington Post: Duke’s Klotman Is Under Consideration As The Next NIH Head
Mary Klotman, a Duke University scientist and senior leader, is a strong contender to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health, according to three people with knowledge of the selection. A physician known for her research into HIV, Klotman has served as dean of the Duke University School of Medicine since 2017. She has had conversations with several senior administration officials, said the three people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the selection. (Abutaleb, Diamond and Johnson, 5/4)
In related news about the NIH —
Nature: Four Lessons From The Pandemic To Reboot The NIH
The COVID-19 pandemic represented an important test for the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest funder of biomedical research in the world. Many say that it passed admirably: the agency substantially contributed to the high-speed development of medicines and vaccines to fight SARS-CoV-2 by funding basic research and collaborating with pharmaceutical firms to coordinate clinical trials at a breakneck pace. “It is an accomplishment for the ages,” says Shirley Tilghman, a molecular biologist and president emeritus at Princeton University in New Jersey, who has frequently written on the challenges faced by the NIH. (Kozlov, 4/20)
BuzzFeed: This Activist Group Tapped Into Partisan COVID Politics To Make Big Trouble For Anthony Fauci And The NIH
As much of the United States entered COVID lockdowns in April 2020, a tiny group that campaigns against federal funding for animal experiments spotted an opportunity. Speculation was swirling in right-leaning media that the virus behind the pandemic had emerged from a lab in Wuhan, China, rather than from wildlife sold for food in the city’s markets. As it happened, the White Coat Waste Project had been looking into taxpayer money going to labs in China, including in Wuhan. The group’s founder had strong contacts with Republican politicians and had launched the group with the mission of getting conservatives into animal activism. (Aldhous, 5/4)
