In a recent development, Christine Grady, a leading bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has been handed a layoff notice.
Grady, who is also the spouse of former top NIH official Anthony Fauci, is among the health bureaucrats who have been shown the door this week.
Grady's termination comes as part of the post-pandemic restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as reported by the New York Times and STAT News. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his top aides have stated that the layoffs are intended to consolidate administrative functions and overhaul a failed status quo in American health.
Several NIH leaders were offered the opportunity to transfer to one of the Indian Health Service's field offices in Alaska, Montana, Minnesota, and other locations far from Washington, DC. However, it remains unclear whether Grady was among those officials given the option to take up a remote post hundreds of miles away from their upscale Beltway neighborhood. According to federal disclosures, the couple's net worth had risen to $11.5 million by the time of Faucis 2022 retirement, a significant increase from $7.6 million before the COVID-19 pandemic, as per Open The Books.
An NIH official, who wished to remain anonymous, acknowledged to the Daily Caller News Foundation that Grady's marriage to Fauci affected the institutes' ability to address ethical questions that could potentially cast a negative light on the former White House medical advisor. The official described Grady as "a good person with a major conflict of interest."
The official further stated, "One of the problems when the coverup was going on of the Wuhan lab leak, that whole fiasco, was that they were not listening to anyone giving ethics advice. If they had had someone at the table with knowledge of this, they would have said: 'Hey do you want to play it this way, or be more transparent?' Someone could have raised the question."
The official continued, "Thats something Christine Grady could have, or should have, done. She wasnt able to do it because she was Faucis wife. Maybe they had discussions in private about what was going on. She was placed in a conflicted role because of that."
In addition to Grady, other NIH officials in Faucis inner circle were also dismissed. Clifford Lane, who had been with Faucis National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1991, most recently serving as deputy director of clinical research and special projects, was also let go, according to the New York Times.
Emily Erbelding, Director of the NIAID Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, has also been dismissed, as per Government Executive. Erbelding was involved in communications with Fauci and EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak about the connection between the NIAID and high-risk virology in Wuhan, China, in 2020, according to emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know through the Freedom of Information Act and a congressional investigation.
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