New NIH Research Center Head Expected to Have Vision, ‘Gravitas’

The head of President Joe Biden‘s proposed biomedical research agency will hold an empowered, five-year post, allowing future administrations to shape their own visions as the science evolves.

Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said he expects the head of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, to be picked by the White House or the health secretary, which will give them an influential position in the Department of Health and Human Services.

“This needs to be somebody with gravitas and who is recognized as having the kind of authority that you’re ...