This post has been updated to correct the spelling of NantWorks.
Technology Review notes that President-elect Donald Trump has yet to choose a science advisor.
While the role and influence of the science advisor has waxed and waned with various presidents, Tech Review points out that every US president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has had such an advisor. Some advisors, like President Barack Obama's advisor John Holdren have been cabinet-level officials, but they don't have to be. But Trump does have to choose someone to be the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, but then, as Robert Atkinson from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation says, it's up to Trump to determine how much "stature and access" to give that position.
At Tech Review, Rush Holt, the CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, urges the President-elect to choose a science advisor soon as science, technology, and engineering "are more embedded, in more policies, than ever before."
According to Nature News, NantWorks CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong might be under consideration for this role or for director of the National Institutes of Health. Another name being floated for science advisor is former NIH director Elias Zerhouni, though he has said he doesn't want to leave Sanofi, it adds.