Nominee For NIEHS Has Second Thoughts

Schwartz Says Conflict Rules Limit Recruiting

Duke University's David Schwartz was considered a perfect fit to head NIEHS, but he says he may turn down the job because conflict-of-interest rules will make it difficult to recruit top scientists. (Les Todd -- Duke University Medical Center)

A high-profile physician who was to take the helm next month as chief of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health has postponed his arrival indefinitely because of his concerns about new conflict-of-interest restrictions imposed by NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni in February.

David Schwartz, director of pulmonary medicine and critical care at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and vice chairman of research at the university, was named in October to head the arm of NIH that focuses on environmental science. Twelve days from today, he was to replace Kenneth Olden, who has been leading the institute since 1991 and announced in 2003 that he would leave as soon as a replacement was found.

Coming with Schwartz from Duke was a team of more than a dozen researchers who were prepared to begin government service at the institute.

But in a letter to Zerhouni and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt a few days ago -- and in conversations with colleagues in recent days -- Schwartz let it be known that he has serious concerns about taking the job under the new rules, which were not in place when he was named.

His primary concern is that he would be unable to recruit or retain top talent under the new rules, according to sources who have spoken to Schwartz. Those rules, which have also triggered complaints by many NIH employees, demand broad divestiture of stocks in biomedical companies and ban many other kinds of outside income, activities and awards that academic scientists are free to pursue. Schwartz could not be reached yesterday.

NIH officials said yesterday they were confident they would be able to work out the issues.

"We fully anticipate and look forward to Dr. Schwartz assuming his position as director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences," NIH Deputy Director Raynard S. Kington said in an interview.

But the episode highlights an emerging problem at the agency as employees face a looming deadline to divest or quit by this summer.

Already, at least three highly successful scientists -- all of them tangled in an ongoing investigation into possible conflicts of interest at NIH -- have decided to leave for academic positions.

H. Bryan Brewer Jr. of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute is going to a Washington-area research institute, and Lance Liotta of the National Cancer Institute has accepted a position at George Mason University, according to published reports. And Trey Sunderland of the National Institute of Mental Health has been offered the job as head of the Alzheimer's Research Center at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. (Sunderland's departure has been delayed because the NIH has not granted him permission to quit -- permission he needs, in his case, because he was hired as part of the "commissioned corps," which operates under quasi-military rules.)

NIH officials are studying the anticipated impact of the new rules, Kington said, and the agency has the option of adjusting them. "Dr. Schwartz knows of the commitment of the agency to assure that we can retain and recruit the best scientists," he said, emphasizing that he did not mean to imply that significant changes could be expected soon.

Based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., the NIEHS has a budget of $711 million and funds more than 850 research grants. As head of the institute, Schwartz would also lead the National Toxicology Program, which oversees research on various environmental pollutants' potential to cause cancer and other diseases.

With his background in pulmonary and emergency medicine and his reputation as an indefatigable worker who typically has several major research projects underway at once, Schwartz was considered a major catch for the agency.

"We are extremely fortunate to have David join us," Zerhouni said in October on announcing the decision to hire him. "Environmental health sciences are playing an increasingly critical role in our understanding of many diseases. His interdisciplinary approach, involving human and molecular genetics, the medical sciences, and environmental genetics and genomics, will help lead us to well-conceived strategies for preventing, diagnosing, and treating disease."