Executives at the Department of Health and Human Services have named a few acting agency heads as the US government prepares to transition into a new administration under President-Elect Barack Obama.

There are no real surprises, with deputies or second-in-commands taking over next week and serving at top spots until successors are named by incoming HHS head Tom Daschle or directly by Obama.

Cancer biologist Frank Torti, who spoke with The Scientist last year when he was named the Food and Drug Administration's first ever Chief Scientist, will serve as FDA head starting on Inauguration Day, January 20th. You can hear a snippet of the conversation I had with Torti here.

Other temporary assignments include Raynard Kington staying on as acting director of the National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Disease Control & Prevention chief operating officer William Gimson taking over when current director Julie Gerberding leaves the post.

The Washington, D.C. rumor mill has suggested that genomicist Francis Collins may be next in line to serve as NIH director, and that Clinton-era FDA commissioner Jane Henney could return to her old post. Other names bandied about as potential FDA commissioners include another former comish, David Kessler, and Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steven Nissen.


Related stories:

New NIH head talks budget, priorities [10th November 2008]

FDA's 1st Chief Scientist speaks [16th April 2008]

Steve Nissen goes 0 for 2 [14th June 2007]

Accelerating new drug development [30th January 2001]