National Institutes of Health Director Elias Zerhouni said last week that he will resign from his position at the end of October "to pursue writing projects and explore other professional opportunities."
Zerhouni said that his departure is timed to synchronize with the end of the current White House administration and that he does not consider the move to be a resignation.
Raynard Kington, deputy director of NIH, is expected to serve as acting director until a new White House names his successor.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last week named Jonathan Dordick, professor of chemical and biological engineering, as director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. He replaces Robert Linhardt, who has served as acting director since 2007.
As director, Dordick plans to use the center to direct faculty and student research toward discoveries “that can be easily translated to actual lifesaving technologies and medicines,” RPI said in a statement.
Dordick is the inventor of a biochip that may eliminate the need for animal testing in the chemical and cosmetics industry, and curtail its use in drug discovery. He has co-founded a pair of companies: Solidus Biosciences, a venture-stage biotech company that is further developing the biochip technology; and EnzyMed, a drug-discovery firm.
Dordick joined the RPI faculty in 1998, and served as chair of the chemical and biological engineering department for four years. He was also worked as an assistant professor at the University of Iowa. He holds a PhD in biochemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.