NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Raynard Kington will step into the role of acting director of the National Institutes of Health on Friday, Oct. 31, after the departure of Elias Zerhouni, who announced in September that he plans to leave his post.
Zerhouni confirmed this week that he has tapped Kington to take over the post until a new director is appointed, which will happen sometime after the next administration settles into the White House.
Kington has served as Zerhouni’s deputy since 2003, and before that he was associate director of NIH for behavioral and social sciences research. He has also served as acting director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and he worked at the National Center for Health Statistics.
Before his arrival at NIH, Kington was a senior scientist at the Rand Corporation, where he was co-director of the Drew/RAND Center on Health and Aging.