Rick Bright, who led the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, until last April, has taken on a new role at the Rockefeller Foundation aimed at preventing future pandemics, Science reports.
In a whistleblower complaint last May, Bright alleged that he was forced out of his role at BARDA and into a smaller role at the National Institutes of Health because he was pushed for stringent testing of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, which former President Donald Trump had pushed, with limited evidence, as treatments for COVID-19. He left his position at NIH in October, after further alleging that he had been "deliberately impeded" in his new role. Bright later joined a COVID-19 advisory board convened by then President-elect Joe Biden.
According to the Rockefeller Foundation, Bright is to work with other global public health organizations to establish a pandemic prevention institute that responds quickly to alerts of potential outbreaks to stop their spread.
Science adds that the foundation has also released a report urging the US to boost its genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.