The Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health, Michael Lauer, abruptly announced his retirement on Thursday, effective Friday. That follows news from Wednesday that another long-time senior NIH scientist, Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak, was also stepping down. The coincidences mount.
Meanwhile, Lauer’s departure has also raised eyebrows among multiple sources at NIH Splinter has heard from. One person with knowledge of the meeting when he made his announcement said that he had made his own decision and was not being forced out, but several others expressed skepticism at the timing. On Wednesday, Lauer signed a memo sent out to NIH staff regarding the funding freeze for the billions of research dollars being held up by the Trump administration. “In consultation with NIH leadership and with the Office of General Counsel,” the memo read, “we recognize that NIH programs fall under recently issued Temporary Restraining Orders” issued by two different federal judges. It went on to instruct the institutes to restart grant-making and other funding activities.
Twenty-four hours later, he was on his way out the door. “Who truly knows if Lauer was forced out or not,” one source inside NIH told Splinter.
Also on Wednesday, employees across the federal government received word that the Office of Personnel Management’s “Fork in the Road” deferred resignation program was done, after a federal judge allowed it to move forward. According to an email sent to NIH employees and seen by Splinter, the offer was officially taken off the table at 7:20 pm on Wednesday; that email came in at 8:04 pm. “Which seems at odds with them wanting people to take it,” pointed out a source at NIH. “I’m surprised they didn’t try another day of pleading/threats.”
NBC News reported that 75,000 people across the government took the offer, well short of the hundreds of thousands they were hoping for — only, that number comes from an OPM spokesperson, so is more than likely bullshit in one way or another. A source at another federal agency said that about three percent of their large division of around 1,000 people took the offer, most close to retirement. It is unclear how many took it at NIH, though previous reporting has suggested very few people were even tempted.
At NIH, the leadership voids left by Tabak and Lauer, both of whom had been with the agency for decades, don’t seem likely to be filled by anyone with similar commitment to the overall biomedical research endeavor. Per one source inside NIH: “Waiting for goons to replace Tabak and Lauer.”
Correction: This has been updated to reflect that Lauer was the Deputy Director for Extramural, not Intramural, Research.
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