Endodontist Named Acting NIH Director

As reported in The Hill, the Department of Health and Human Services has named Lawrence Tabak, DDS, PhD, “the incoming acting National Institutes of Health (NIH) director slated to fill in for Francis Collins.” Dr. Tabak, “who currently serves as the principal deputy director at NIH, will take on the acting position starting on Dec. 20, while the administration searches for Collins’s permanent replacement, the HHS secretary said in an announcement.” Dr. Tabak “has held positions at NIH since 2000, including as principal deputy director and deputy ethics counselor for the past 11 years,” and “before that, he served as the director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial research for a decade.”

MedPage Today reported that “before joining NIH, Tabak was a professor of Dentistry and Biochemistry & Biophysics at the University of Rochester in New York,” and “his research, which is ongoing, focuses on the structure, biosynthesis, and function of glycoproteins.” Dr. Tabak, “who is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, received his undergraduate degree from City College of New York, his DDS from Columbia University, and a PhD in endodontics from the University at Buffalo.”

Reuters (12/9) and Scientist (12/10, Williams) also reported.

Dr. Tabak has AAE and Journal of Endodontics ties, having authored a review that is considered to be timeless.