The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has lost two distinguished leaders as mass layoffs directed by the Trump administration hit federal health agencies.
The NIH’s Deputy Director for Extramural Research Michael Lauer, M.D., left the agency at the end of last week, according to Stat. In his role since 2015, Lauer had previously served as a division director for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and before that spent 14 years at Cleveland Clinic.
During his time with the agency, Lauer collected several awards, including the NIH Equal Employment Opportunity Award of the Year and the Arthur S. Flemming Award for Exceptional Federal Service tied to his work to foster a culture of learning and accountability.
Meanwhile, NIH’s Principal Deputy Director Larry Tabak, Ph.D., is retiring, CBS News has reported. Tabak, a biomedical scientist and dentist who served as the agency’s top ethics official, was forced into the departure, according to CBS.
NIH did not respond to Fierce Biotech’s request for comment.
Last week, Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D., the inaugural head of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), was also let go.
“As administrations change, federal agencies’ leadership often changes to align with the incoming president’s priorities,” the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson said in a Feb. 14 email to Fierce Biotech. “Accordingly, Dr. Wegrzyn is no longer the director of ARPA-H.”
Previously, Susan Monarez, Ph.D.—the current acting director for the CDC—had served as deputy director for ARPA-H, an agency of HHS that focuses on biomedical research. Both ARPA-H positions are currently vacant, as of the time of publication.
The changes come against a backdrop of major government cuts being made by the Trump administration. Just this past weekend, federal health agencies fired thousands of “probationary workers”—most often defined as employees who are recently hired or promoted into a new position—in what is becoming informally known as the Valentine’s Day Massacre among federal workers. Probationary workers are easier to fire without violating civil service protections.
The firings began at the Department of Veterans Affairs, before extending throughout almost all the HHS divisions by the end of the weekend. Up to 5,200 employees lost their jobs across HHS, initial reports indicate.
The CDC was expected to eliminate 1,300 workers, as first reported by the Associated Press. That number dropped to 750 CDC employees who received termination letters over the weekend, according to a current CDC staffer and another who reviewed an internal memo, both of which were cited by NPR.
It’s currently unclear how many NIH employees were terminated in the initial round of firings.
Administration officials told the press Friday night that public health experts, providers at the Indian Health Service (IHS) and workers at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) were spared.
President Donald Trump, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk have vowed to dramatically reduce the workforce at federal health agencies in an effort to fundamentally reshape the government.
A Feb. 11 executive order provided further details on how the DOGE would alter the federal workforce, requiring every agency to hire “no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.”
Explicitly mentioned in the executive order are offices that include diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which will be prioritized for firings.