(UnitedVoice.com) – Dr. Anthony Fauci led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for nearly 40 years. In 2022, he stepped down from the position. A replacement is now being named to oversee the massive agency.
On August 2, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo would replace Fauci as the acting director of the NIAID. The doctor currently serves as the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s Division of Infectious Diseases director. She is expected to take over the NIAID program this fall.
Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, the acting director of the NIH, said Marrazzo has led translational research and international clinical trials. He believes she will bring “a wealth of leadership experience” with her. She will be in charge of the NIAID’s $ 6.3 billion budget. The money funds projects that “advance the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of infectious, immunologic and allergic diseases.” That includes programs at research organizations and universities across the country.
Marrazzo has gained a reputation for being a “leader in the field of HIV prevention” and other sexually transmitted diseases, Dr. Monica Gandhi, the director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of California-San Francisco, told AL.com.
The doctor grew up in Pennsylvania. She went to Harvard University for her undergraduate degree and to medical school at Thomas Jefferson University. She worked at the University of Washington School of Medicine for two decades before moving to the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Throughout her career, she has obtained dozens of grants and authored hundreds of research papers.
Dr. Carlos Del Rio, an Emory University professor of medicine, said Marrazzo has a “better perception of the bigger America” than Fauci did because she has seen more of it throughout her career. He said that while the former NIAID director only worked in DC and New York, Marrazzo has been in the South, the West, and other places.
Alabama’s Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Karen Landers called Marrazzo a “phenomenal selection” to head the NIAID.
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