The National Institutes of Health (NIH) named a new director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) on Wednesday to replace Dr. Anthony Fauci, who stepped down at the end of 2022.
NIH acting director Lawrence A. Tabak tapped Dr. Jeanne M. Marrazzo, who currently serves as the Division of Infectious Diseases director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, for the job.
Marrazzo will now oversee NIAID's $6.3 billion budget and 21 laboratories. She is the first new NIAID director since 1984, when Fauci obtained the position under the Reagan administration.
Marrazzo had a track record of promoting masking despite present-day data questioning its efficacy.
She also held alarmist beliefs about the virus in late 2020, despite data showing a much lower fatality rate.
As his tenure ended, Fauci was accused of lying about funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of COVID-19.
Gain-of-function research involves genetically altering organisms to enhance their biological functions.
Last month, a House Energy and Commerce Committee report suggested that 14 NIH officials, including Fauci, were "not properly reappointed to their positions in December of 2021, as required by law."
U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) has even accused Fauci of profiting from the pandemic. According to a report from Open the Books Substack's Adam Andrzejewski last year, the public official's net worth increased by an estimated $5 million between 2019 to 2021.
Marrazzo is a native of Pennsylvania and a graduate of Harvard, Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Washington. Her research has focused on female reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases, particularly in homosexual women.
According to the NIH, Marrazzo will begin leading the NIAID in the fall.
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