Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Republican Leader Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Republican Leader Morgan Griffith (R-VA) sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra regarding the current legal status of certain directors at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §284 (d), ‘[e]ach Director of a national research institute or national center who is serving on December 13, 2016, shall be deemed to be appointed for a 5- year term under this subsection beginning on such date.’ Thus, all current National Institutes of Health (NIH) institute or center directors who were serving as of December 13, 2016, would have needed to be reappointed on December 13, 2021, to continue serving.

“We are not aware of any public announcements of the reappointments for any current NIH institute or center directors. Accordingly, please send all documentation showing the reappointments of the NIH institute and center directors by March 24, 2022, to confirm the reappointments.”

The following are all current NIH directors who this applies to:

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• Gary H. Gibbons, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
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• Eric D. Green, National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
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• Richard Hodes, National Institute on Aging (NIA)
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• George Koob, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
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• Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
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• Diana W. Bianchi, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
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• Griffin P. Rodgers, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
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• Nora D. Volkow, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
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• Jon R. Lorsch, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
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• Joshua A. Gordon, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
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• Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
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• Walter J. Koroshetz, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
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• Patricia F. Brennan, National Library of Medicine (NLM)
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• Andrea T. Norris, Center for Information Technology (CIT)
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• Roger I. Glass, John E. Fogarty International Center (FIC)
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CLICK HERE to read the full letter to Secretary Becerra.