August 29,2007

Grassley questions NIH leader about his response to questionable actions of division head

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Grassley is asking the director of the National Institutes of Health to address concerns that an internal review he supervised of actions by an NIH division head glossed over problems and failed to answer a number of obvious questions.

Grassley made his inquiry this week in a letter this week to director Elias Zerhouni. Last week, Dr. David Schwartz stepped down from his position as director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences while his management practices are reviewed.

“I’m urging the top leader at the National Institutes of Health to take responsibility for what’s happened at the Environmental Health Sciences division, where allegations have been made about violations of the public trust and subsequent damage to employee morale,” Grassley said.

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