Former NIAID director fired after whistleblower complaint

Jeanne Marrazzo, who succeeded Anthony Fauci as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2023, has been dismissed by US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The move came 22 days after she filed a whistleblower complaint with the Office of Special Counsel. Her claims included the cancellation of research grants, halting of clinical trials, and censorship of scientific work.

Dr Marrazzo, an expert on the human microbiome, alleged in her September complaint that leaders at the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services had taken actions that posed “a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety.”