Schwartz resigns from NIEHS

Written byBob Grant

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After a tumultuous three-year stint, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) director David Schwartz officially stepped down on Friday (Feb. 8). During his time as NIEHS director, Schwartz's leadership was often questioned. Scientists and lawmakers criticized Schwartz in 2005 when he pushed for privatizing the institute's journal, __Environmental Health Perspectives__, and last August more than 100 NIEHS researchers linkurl:voted no confidence;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53502/ in Schwartz to protest his management. Later in August, Schwartz took a temporary leave while NIH and NIEHS linkurl:reviewed his management and leadership.;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53551/ That review is "still in process," according to NIH spokesperson Don Ralbovsky. Schwartz announced his resignation from NIEHS in an Email to the institute's staff. According to linkurl:__Science__,;http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/208/1 Schwartz wrote that "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." Schwartz has linkurl:signed on;http://www.nationaljewish.org/news/y2007/schwartz-hire.aspx as director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colorado, where he'll also lead a genetics research center. Schwartz will remain at his NIEHS lab through May before starting in Denver, according to NIEHS spokesperson Christine Bruske Flowers. linkurl:Samuel Wilson,;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53639/ who has been acting NIEHS director in Schwartz's absence, will remain in that role until a new permanent director is appointed, Bruske Flowers told __The Scientist__.

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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