Nature has learnt that a clinical trial of two therapies against the rare Ebola Bundibugyo virus spreading in Africa is in the works, pending approval by the governments of DRC and Uganda.
go.nature.com/4uNZU0i
This mirrors a broader trend, as 16 of the NIH's 27 institutes and centres currently lack permanent directors. These removals also come as the administration pursues charges against some scientists involved with COVID-19 research who were in Fauci's orbit.
The agency is pivoting. NIH director Jayanta Bhattacharya outlined a new vision that moves away from pandemic preparedness, basic immunology, HIV/AIDS, and biodefence. Bhattacharya specifically referred to those subjects as Fauci's legacy.
Most recently, three senior officials—Daniel Rotrosen, Kelly Poe, and Andrea Wurster—were given the choice to either accept reassignment outside the institute or resign. Notably, all three of these scientists worked under former director Anthony Fauci.
When you survive a global pandemic, you are never quite the same. I wrote a reflection on the Hantavirus outbreak aboard the Hondius, the invisible work of outbreak containment, and how COVID changed the way many of us process fear, trust, and infectious threats.
open.substack.com/pub/bktitanj...