President Biden has announced new leadership for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), following the resignation of OSTP Director Eric Lander last week.
Alondra Nelson will serve as the new OSTP director and Francis Collins will serve as the president’s science advisor and co-chair of the president’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology “until permanent leadership is nominated and confirmed,” the White House said.
Nelson formerly served as OSTP’s deputy director for science and society. Collins, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, recently stepped down as the director of the National Institutes of Health after 12 years.
By making these two selections, “President Biden has doubled down on science,” the White House announcement said.
“These appointments will allow OSTP and the President’s Science and Technology agenda to move seamlessly forward under proven leadership,” the White House said.
The new leaders come after a two-month White House investigation found “credible evidence” that Lander had violated workplace policy by bullying and demeaning his subordinates.
