The September 12, 2022 NIAID Advisory Council meeting was notable in that it was Dr. Anthony Fauci’s last as NIAID Director (he will be retiring at the end of the year). He addressed Council members by saying, “It has been an enormous pleasure and privilege of my job to have worked with the many extraordinarily intelligent and talented individuals who have served Council over the years.”
As for the meeting itself, we highlight a few of the agenda topics and summarize a presentation from guest speaker Dr. Steven Holland, Director of the NIAID Division of Intramural Research (DIR). If you missed the proceedings, you can watch them at NIAID Advisory Council Meeting—September 2022.
Dr. Fauci began by welcoming everyone, including ad hoc Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation Subcommittee Council members Dr. David Artis, the Michael Kors Professor of Immunology in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and Dr. De’Broski Herbert, the Presidential Professor of Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor of Pathobiology in the UPenn School of Veterinary Medicine.
To acquaint—or reacquaint—yourself with those serving on Council, go to Biographical Sketches of NIAID Council Members.
Staff News
- Aileene Lewis is a new branch chief in the Office of Acquisitions.
- The Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Office welcomed two new branch chiefs: Dr. Cosimo Fuda (Branch A) and Dr. Sabarni Chatterjee (Branch B).
- Stephanie Hixson is the new Director of NIAID’s Office of Workplace Solutions.
Appointments
Dr. Fauci noted several appointments, including:
- Arati Prabhakar as President Biden’s nominee for Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
- President Biden’s selection of Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as the next Director—and first woman—to lead the National Cancer Institute. Former NCI Director Dr. Ned Sharpless stepped down last spring.
- Robert Fenton, Jr.’s appointment as the White House Monkeypox Response Coordinator. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis was named Deputy Coordinator.
- Kevin Williams as the Director of the NIH Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Budget News
Since the release of the fiscal year (FY) 2023 Budget request on March 28, the House and Senate released draft budgets for NIH. The overall proposed increase is 5.5 percent under the House bill and 6.6 percent under the Senate bill with most institutes receiving an increase of at least 2.0 percent under both bills. The House bill proposes larger funding increases than the Senate bill for most institutes, including NIAID.
Dr. Fauci predicted FY 2023 would begin under a continuing resolution. He added “Until a final FY 2023 budget is passed, the Institute will maintain a conservative posture in setting paylines and program levels so that we maintain the flexibility to adjust programs to effectively operate within the final budget level.”
The interim NIAID financial management plan for the FY 2023 budget is as follows: R01 paylines for established and new PIs are set at 10 and 14 percentiles, respectively, and estimated FY 2023 success rates will be 18 to 22 percent.
Dr. Fauci also briefly summarized NIAID’s funding to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and coronaviruses as well as NIAID’s investment of $0.7 billion through the American Rescue Plan Act to implement the Antiviral Program for Pandemics, which includes awarding about $600 million to nine Antiviral Drug Discovery or AViDD Centers.
On September 2, the Administration announced its FY 2023 supplemental budget request of $4.5 billion to address the current monkeypox outbreak. That request includes close to $200 million to HHS for high-priority research and development.
Meetings and Events
Through virtual and in-person meetings, Dr. Fauci met with international visitors; for instance, Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England; Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe; and German Minister of Health Dr. Karl Lauterbach.
Legislative and Outreach Activities
As usual, Dr. Fauci was involved in several activities, such as testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing titled “An Update on the Ongoing Federal Health Response to COVID-19: Current Status and Future Planning.” Dr. Fauci joined the hearing virtually after having tested positive for COVID-19 in June.
Guest Presentation: Division of Intramural Research
DIR Director Dr. Steven Holland provided an overview of the Division, which touched on Board of Scientific Counselors review, intramural and international components of DIR, and priorities, such as transformative medicine and biomedical research as well as responding to public health threats and partnering to advance vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for infectious and immunologic diseases.
He also focused on the following:
- NIAID SARS-CoV-2 Core, which supports COVID-19 bench and animal work by any NIH intramural investigator
- Studying monkeypox, e.g., evolution, diagnostics, therapeutics, transmission, and environmental stability
Dr. Holland’s staff news included new branch chiefs, deputy lab chiefs, a new tenured investigator, new tenure-track investigators, retirements, and lab closings. He also spoke about selected research highlights and future priorities, e.g., recruiting talented diverse investigators, continuing to support outstanding basic science, and fostering bench-to-bedside approaches.
To view Dr. Holland’s presentation, start after the 51-minute mark in the NIAID Advisory Council Meeting—September 2022 videocast.
Subcommittee Summaries
At each Council session, scientific subcommittees review and approve concepts for NIAID initiatives, which are targeted research funding opportunities. While not all approved concepts become funding opportunities later, concepts highlight NIAID research interests and can be good topics for investigator-initiated applications.
NIAID scientific staff present our September concepts and subcommittees discuss them in the following videocast recordings.
- AIDS Research Advisory Committee
- Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation Subcommittee
- Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Subcommittee
Find text summaries of the approved concepts on these webpages: