A top NIH official who filed a whistleblower complaint last month alleging she was removed from her job for political reasons has been fired by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to her attorney.
Jeanne M. Marrazzo, MD, MPH, had been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 2023, replacing Anthony S. Fauci, MD. She was removed from that position on March 31 and offered reassignment to the Indian Health Service amid mass layoffs within HHS.
Last month, Marrazzo and another top NIH scientist, Kathleen M. Neuzil, MD, MPH, who led the agency’s international research and training arm, filed whistleblower complaints alleging that they were removed from their positions for defending research grants and vaccines and resisting efforts to prioritize politics over science.
The complaints described the environment inside the NIH in the wake of Kennedy’s confirmation in February as being hostile toward evidence-based science, including vaccines.
Marrazzo and Neuzil are former members of the Healio | Infectious Disease News Editorial Board.
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