November 23, 2022
3 min read
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Adalja, Creech, Frieden, Hotez and Pai report no relevant financial disclosures.
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Wanted: a prominent scientist to lead a $6.3 billion research organization.
Qualifications: an MD or PhD, a broad scientific vision, strong communication skills and thick skin.
Anthony S. Fauci, MD, will step down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in December. Source: Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz.
The NIH has posted a job ad “seeking exceptional candidates” for the soon-to-be vacant position of director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Applicants will be competing to replace Anthony S Fauci, MD, who will step down from the position in December after nearly 40 years on the job.
The NIH is accepting applications for the job through Jan. 17, 2023. According to The Washington Post, the agency is expected to name an interim NIAID director while it searches for Fauci’s replacement.
Before Fauci, whose tenure atop the NIAID began in 1984, no director had spent more than 11 years in the position since the NIAID was founded as the National Microbiological Institute in 1948.
The NIAID now has a staff of 5,300 and a reach that extends overseas to support research in more than 100 countries.
In addition to leading one of the largest institutes at the NIH, Fauci has advised seven US presidents during his tenure and has counseled them on emerging threats from HIV/AIDS in the 1980s to COVID-19 and monkeypox today, becoming one of the country’s most visible physicians.
We asked experts what qualities they would like to see in the person who replaces him.
amesh A Adalia, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security:
The new NIAID chief, in my opinion, should be someone who has an unequivocal command of the fields of infectious disease and immunology as well as a demonstrated ability to guide and manage a large organization.
C. Buddy Creech, MD, MPH, Edie Carell Johnson Chair and Professor of Pediatrics in the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program:
I think it’s fair to say that Dr. Fauci will be a very difficult act to follow. I think it’s important to recognize the critically important role that the NIAID director plays in shaping the research agenda of the US and executing our responses to infectious disease emergencies.
Now more than ever, we will need visionary leadership to set our research priorities, tenacious advocacy for infectious diseases research, and the ability to partner with both sides of the aisle to accomplish our goals as a country. In other words, we need someone with a skillset similar to what Dr. Fauci brought to the role for many decades.
Tom Peace, MD, MPH, President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives and former director of the CDC:
Tony Fauci has helped lead irreversible progress against HIV and other infectious disease threats in the US and around the world. The same characteristic Tony possessed will be important to find in the next director: scientific integrity, ability to explain clearly, and dedication to helping humanity.
Peter J Hotez, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development:
replacement dr Fauci after so many decades will be daunting, not only because Tony was a superb administrator and scientist, but also because he helped the US Congress and executive branch understand the importance of infectious disease research to national and global security. dr Fauci’s replacement must not only be an important American scientist but also adept science explainer, convener, and advocate.
Gitanjali Pai, MD, Infectious Disease News Editorial Board Member, chief medical officer at the Oklahoma State Department of Health and infectious disease physician at Memorial Hospital and Physicians Clinic in Stilwell, Oklahoma:
Filling the shoes of Anthony Fauci, America’s man on infectious diseases for decades, is not going to be easy. Let me try to enumerate the qualities essential for the NIAID chief:
- a visionary who can infuse vision into policy;
- a communicator extraordinaire who can explain the tasks easily to all stakeholders in the ID field, and who also knows the pulse of the media and the politicians;
- the flexibility to shift priorities as per the need of the hour;
- a humanistic touch, for the victims of epidemics who are likely to be the underprivileged in society;
The other desirable traits like vast knowledge of immunology, a tenacity to fight mercilessly lethal diseases in the face of adversity, boundless energy and wide networking are a given.
Finally, the NIAID chief must have charisma, which will help in the motivational and emotionally arousal of stakeholders in infectious diseases, resulting in their increased adherence to the mission laid down by the leader.
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