Fw: Director vacanices at NIH and FDA

[Guest guest]

Forwarded from the Parkinsn List:

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Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 06:37:18 -0500

Subject: Director vacancies at NIH and FDA

As you may have heard there are a number of vacancies

to be filled in

the

leadership of HHS agencies -some have been vacant for

up to 2 years.

Among the vacancies are NIH director, NINDS director,

FDA director, and

most recently surgeon-general.

The people who will be appointed to these positiions,

and their vision

for the agencies and for medical care and research are

important to all

of us. SSo far this week there were reports on two

leading candidates

Pres. Bush probably won't appoint.

FROM:

kaisernetwork.org Daily Reports - Feb. 19,2002.

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=9551

" Official Reports that Bush Will Not Name Fauci to

Head NIH

The Bush administration will not name

" renowned " AIDS

researcher

Fauci as the director of the NIH because of

administrative and

political

issues, including Fauci's unknown stance on abortion

rights, according

to

an unidentified official in the administration, the

AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Instead,

President Bush is " close "

to naming an unidentified alternate candidate. The

AP/Post-Dispatch

reports that HHS Secretary Tommy has been

" pushing " for Fauci

--

who has been the director of NIH's National Institute

of Allergy and

Infectious Diseases since 1984 -- to be named NIH

director since the

summer.

However, administration officials are concerned with

Fauci's silence on

" whether he supports abortion rights. " According to

the

AP/Post-Dispatch, Fauci in the past has called

research using tissue

from

aborted fetuses " scientifically significant. " In

addition, Fauci has

indicated that he would like to continue his work as

" [o]ne of the

nation's top AIDS researchers " if chosen to head NIH.

Fauci has

declined

offers to head the agency from former presidents

because of " imilar

concerns " over having time for research, although

" friends say " that

Fauci " hoped to make it work " this time. Officials

from the Bush

administration said that Fauci's " desire to continue

scientific

research "

was " at least as important " as the abortion issue in

denying his bid

for

the position. The AP/Post-Dispatch reports that the

administration

could

fill the position " as early as this month " (AP/St.

Louis Post-Dispatch,

2/16).

FROM: kaisernetwork.org Daily Reports

Feb. 21,2002

" White House Reportedly No Longer Considering Alastair

Wood for FDA

Head

Vanderbilt University pharmacology professor

Alastair Wood will

not be

nominated by President Bush to be commissioner of the

FDA, the

Nashville

Tennessean reports. According to Vanderbilt

spokesperson Clinton

Colmenares, a White House official telephoned Wood on

Feb. 18 to inform

Wood that the president " no longer considered him a

candidate. " Wood's

potential nomination had been opposed by

pharmaceutical companies,

which

were critical of his support for reviewing

prescription drugs " even

after

they are approved " by the FDA. Drug makers said they

feared that such

reviews would slow down the approval process for new

drugs. In

addition,

as a member of an FDA advisory panel, Wood voted last

year to allow

several prescription allergy drugs to be sold over the

counter. Bush

has

yet to announce a choice for FDA commissioner (,

Nashville

Tennessean, 2/21). "

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