Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Received a call from Aaron Pickrell who is running the Obama transition team for HHS and sub-agencies. He said that my name is actively being discussed for NIH director and he wanted to know if I was interested. I was frank and honest with him saying that I wanted to remain as NIAID Director, but I want to be part of the Obama team and perhaps we could work out something informal (without title) or more formal (?Special Assistant or Special Advisor to the POTUS) for issues on Global AIDS, Emerging infections, and Biodefense. He said that he would run this up the ladder and see how people react. My real desire is to stay where I am but to be called upon as I have been for 20+ years on issues mentioned above. I do not want to give up my solid base of scientific credibility. I hear that Francis Collins is aggressively campaigning for the job of NIH Director – not surprising.