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Jeanne M. Marrazzo, a University of Alabama at Birmingham infectious-disease expert, will succeed Anthony S. Fauci this fall as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, federal officials announced Wednesday. The $6.3 billion research institute is among the largest of the 27 institutes and centers that constitute the National Institutes of Health, America’s flagship biomedical agency. NIAID is also particularly prominent given its involvement in the response to the coronavirus pandemic and other diseases; it has also received attention because of Fauci’s own high profile and Republicans’ ongoing efforts to investigate the institute’s workings. (Diamond and Roubein, 8/2)

Marrazzo’s research has focused on sexually transmitted diseases and the prevention of HIV infection. At the university, she is director of the medical school’s division of infectious diseases. Her appointment was made by Lawrence Tabak, acting director for the National Institutes of Health. (8/2)

The announcement comes roughly eight months after longtime institute director Anthony Fauci stepped down. ... Marrazzo is “very well-liked, very respected” and experienced, Fauci told STAT. “She’s going to be a good fit. It’s a great challenge that she’s going to be facing; it’s going to be exciting for her.” (Owermohle, 8/2)

Her selection is drawing praise from researchers and AIDS activists. The Infectious Diseases Society of America cited her “innumerable qualifications,” including her mentorship of new infectious disease specialists at UAB. Marrazzo will also be the first openly gay director of an NIH institute. “I couldn’t be happier. She’s somebody who gets the big picture,” says University of California, San Diego, epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee, who got to know Marrazzo through the international HIV Prevention Trials Network. She added that Marrazzo “is superdedicated to patients” including those from vulnerable groups, such as lesbian and bisexual women. “Given NIH’s history, we need someone who really understands diversity and inclusion,” Strathdee says. (J. Kaiser, 8/2)