Trump Asks Francis Collins to Remain NIH Director, at Least for Now

The incoming Trump administration has asked the director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis S. Collins, to remain as head of the nation’s top medical-research agency for an indefinite period.

The NIH issued a brief statement on Thursday, less than 24 hours before Donald J. Trump was due to take the oath of office as president, saying that Dr. Collins “has been held over by the Trump administration.”

The agency had no details on whether the extension was considered permanent or merely a placeholder while the new administration continued to fill federal positions with its own nominees.

The NIH director is considered a political position, chosen by the president and subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Dr. Collins has served as NIH director for nearly the entire eight-year length of the Obama administration, and reports in recent weeks have described Mr. Trump’s transition team as considering successors.

An NIH spokeswoman, Renate Myles, referred questions to the Trump team. A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump said she knew of no immediate statement on the matter.

The leading group of research universities, the Association of American Universities, nevertheless posted a statement late Thursday saying it was “thrilled by the report that President-elect Trump has asked Francis Collins to continue to lead the National Institutes of Health in his administration.”

The association said the NIH, with an annual budget of some $30 billion spent largely on research at American universities, is responsible for countless medical advances. “Under Dr. Collins’s continuing leadership, we can expect many more,” it said.

Asked whether the association had reason to interpret the extension as permanent, the AAU’s spokesman, Barry Toiv, said: “We are hoping this will be long-term. We’re confident that the longer he stays, the more the new administration will see his extraordinary effectiveness.”

Supporters and Critics

As a political appointee, Dr. Collins was required to submit a formal letter of resignation, effective with the start of the new administration, on Friday. He has his own research lab at the NIH, and planned to remain at the agency even if his resignation as director had been accepted.

Rep. Andy P. Harris, Republican of Maryland, and Patrick Soon-Shiong, a wealthy biotech entrepreneur formerly on the faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles, have reportedly met with Mr. Trump in New York as part of the transition team’s hunt for a new NIH director. Dr. Collins’s leading political backers include a former speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, who has touted his work as head of the Human Genome Project.

During a meeting of his advisory committee last month, Dr. Collins was urged by some of its members to offer to serve in the new administration. He said he would be willing if asked.

He also has drawn some criticism. Some senior physician leaders at the NIH faulted Dr. Collins last year after a report disclosed unsafe conditions at the Clinical Center on the main NIH campus, in Bethesda, Md.

External critics include Michael B. Eisen, a professor of genetics, genomics, and development at the University of California at Berkeley, who last month urged Mr. Trump to replace Dr. Collins. Mr. Eisen said Dr. Collins too often favored big-dollar NIH projects over funding individual investigators, and had grown too close to university leaders who benefited financially from such choices.

But given the staffing decisions Mr. Trump has made so far, Mr. Eisen said he wasn’t terribly bothered by the NIH announcement on Thursday. “Obviously, I am not a fan of Collins’s leadership of the NIH and think it needs new leadership,” he said. “However, it also needs good leadership, and I’m not completely unsympathetic to the point of view that he may be the best we’re going to get in the Trump administration.”

Paul Basken covers university research and its intersection with government policy. He can be found on Twitter @pbasken, or reached by email at paul.basken@chronicle.com.