NIH Environmental Institute Chief Resigns

By Jocelyn Kaiser
ScienceNOW Daily News
8 February 2008

David Schwartz, the embattled director of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH?s) environmental health institute, resigned today after a stormy 3-year tenure to head a research program in Colorado. He explained that he could not serve as an effective leader of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) after "disenfranchising" some scientists.

Schwartz, a pulmonary disease researcher, drew controversy soon after he left Duke University in 2005 to head the nearby NIEHS in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Environmentalists, scientists, and some lawmakers protested when he wanted to privatize the institute's journal and shift funds from disease prevention to clinical studies. But the real trouble began when an inquiry by Congress revealed that Schwartz was consulting for law firms and had built up a large personal lab despite concerns from NIH ethics officials. Schwartz temporarily stepped down as director in August and had been serving in an advisory role to NIH Director Elias Zerhouni while the agency reviewed NIEHS management (ScienceNOW, 20 August 2007).

In an e-mail today to NIEHS staff, Schwartz explained that his reasons for leaving were "simple": NIEHS "would be more successful with new leadership," he wrote, and he "would have a greater impact in environmental health by working as a physician-scientist." In addition, Schwartz wrote, "our community has not universally embraced the scientific direction or strategies that I have implemented" and that he had "inadvertently disenfranchised segments of our community," for which "I sincerely apologize."

Schwartz has apparently landed on his feet. He is leaving this spring for the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colorado, a world-renowned center for research on respiratory diseases. He will head a new genetics research center and also direct the pulmonary and critical-care division. Gilbert Omenn of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who served on a search committee that recommended Schwartz for NIEHS director, says his problems there were "unfortunate" but that his move to Denver is "terrific for National Jewish and terrific for him."

Although no longer director, Schwartz will continue running his lab at NIH until he leaves for Colorado, probably in late May, said NIH spokesperson John Burklow. Acting director Samuel Wilson remains in charge of NIEHS until a new director is appointed. "We're looking at next steps and hope to fill the position quickly," says Burklow. He says NIH's review of NIEHS management should be released soon.

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