Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of
Health from 2002 to 2008, and former
Johns Hopkins Medicine executive vice dean, returns to
Johns Hopkins on May 1 as a senior adviser to
Johns Hopkins Medicine.
"After six and a half years of outstanding national
and international leadership in biomedical
research and innovation, Elias has graciously consented to
offer us his wise counsel at a time of great
challenges and great opportunities for innovation in
academic medicine," said Edward Miller, dean of
the School of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine.
"With a new administration in
Washington, a global economic downturn and anticipated
reforms in health care finance and delivery,
we will look to him again for help and sound guidance. He
knows Hopkins like few others," he said.
Miller praised Zerhouni, who recently joined the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation as a senior
fellow for global health, as "a brilliant scientist,
entrepreneur and administrator" who was a force in
developing the research enterprise at Johns Hopkins and who
had a seminal influence on the East
Baltimore biotechnology project to transform the campus
into an emerging biotech powerhouse.
Among his many contributions to Johns Hopkins,
Zerhouni was also instrumental in the creation
of the Institute for Cell Engineering. A radiologist by
training, he focused much of his research on
developing computed tomography and magnetic resonance
imaging methods to diagnose and treat
cancer and cardiovascular, pulmonary and other diseases.
"Hopkins is truly a second home for me, and I am
honored to rejoin Ed Miller and the Hopkins
family in this capacity," Zerhouni said. "We are witnessing
unprecedented transitions in both science
and health. I am looking forward to contributing
meaningfully to the many dimensions of Hopkins
Medicine through these challenging but exciting times."
Zerhouni earned his medical degree in 1975 from the
University of Algiers and came to the
United States in 1975 at the age of 24 with his wife,
Nadia. After completing his residency in
diagnostic radiology at Johns Hopkins in 1978, he rose to
the rank of full professor of
radiology in
1992 and of biomedical
engineering in 1995. In 1996, he was named chairman of
the Department of
Radiology. During the following years, he rose rapidly
within Johns Hopkins, assuming additional duties
as vice dean for clinical affairs and president of the
Johns Hopkins Clinical Practice Association, vice
dean for research and executive vice dean for the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine, until
his nomination as the 15th director of the NIH. The
appointment was confirmed by the Senate in April
2002.
Under Zerhouni's leadership, the NIH embarked on a
number of initiatives, chief among them
his Roadmap for Medical Research, designed to enhance
synergy and collaborative work among all 27
NIH institutes and centers and leading to the passing by
Congress of the NIH Reform Act of 2006.
Other new programs included those designed to foster
high-risk but potentially high-impact research,
and enhanced support for young career scientists.
Zerhouni serves on the boards of the Lasker
Foundation, Research America, the King Abdullah
University of Science and Technology and the Mayo Clinic
Foundation. He also is an external chief
adviser for global science and technology for
Sanofi-Aventis and was named chair of the Maryland
Economic Development Commission in April 2009. He was
elected a member of the Institute of
Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2000.
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