NIH deputy director leaving

Deputy Director Raynard Kington is leaving the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this summer after 10 years with the agency to take a position as president of Grinnell College in Iowa. Raynard KingtonImage: Wikimedia commons, NIH"I have a lump in my throat imagining Raynard leaving the NIH, where he has made so many outstanding and long-lasting contributions," Collins wrote in linkurl:a statement announcing Kington's resignation;http://www.nih.gov/about/director/02172010_statement_kington.ht

Written byJef Akst

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Deputy Director Raynard Kington is leaving the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this summer after 10 years with the agency to take a position as president of Grinnell College in Iowa.

Raynard Kington
Image: Wikimedia commons,
NIH

"I have a lump in my throat imagining Raynard leaving the NIH, where he has made so many outstanding and long-lasting contributions," Collins wrote in linkurl:a statement announcing Kington's resignation;http://www.nih.gov/about/director/02172010_statement_kington.htm yesterday. "Personally, I could not ask for a better Deputy Director, who has guided me on so many critical issues since last August. His counsel has been invaluable." Kingston is a PhD physician who served as the NIH's director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, acting director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the principal deputy director of the NIH. In addition, he took the role of acting director between Elias Zerhouni's resignation in October 2008 and Francis Collins' appointment last August, during which time he participated in distributing the $10.4 million increase in the NIH's budget as part of the economic stimulus package and implementing the regulatory changes issued by President Obama's Executive Order regarding human embryonic stem cell research. "He performed each of these roles splendidly, always going far beyond the call of duty," Collins said in the statement. Collins called Kington an "unsung hero" of the agency. "Many aren't even aware of the innumerable battles he fought on behalf of our agency, on behalf of our staff, and in defense of science," Collins wrote. "Raynard's modest and self-effacing manner belies a lion-hearted champion of the NIH mission."
**__Related stories:__***linkurl:NIH loosens stem cell consent rules;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55814/
[6th July 2009]*linkurl:New NIH head talks budget, priorities;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55179/
[10th November 2008]*linkurl:New NIH deputy;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/21033/
[21st January 2003]

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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