NIH Leadership Vacuum Persists with 15 of 27 Institutes Led by Acting Directors

May 20, 2026

The National Institutes of Health faces a leadership crisis with 15 of 27 institutes led by acting directors as of May 20, 2026, despite Jay Bhattacharya serving as NIH director. The vacuum extends across federal health agencies: the U.S. surgeon general remains unconfirmed, the CDC has no director, and the FDA operates without a permanent director, with Kyle Diamantas serving as acting commissioner.

DRC Ebola outbreak response

▪An American doctor infected with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo outbreak zone was flown to Germany for care on May 19, 2026.
▪The Democratic Republic of Congo is experiencing the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record as of May 2026.
▪The Trump administration slashed U.S. aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the months before the Ebola outbreak began.

STAT Summit announcements

▪The 23andMe medical records feature is the first major change since Anne Wojcicki's foundation purchased the company.
▪Anne Wojcicki announced the 23andMe medical records feature at the STAT Summit.
▪23andMe is planning to add the capacity for customers to add medical records to their profiles.
▪Jorie Kraus was born with an ultra rare disorder and has received treatment through a Mayo Clinic program that pairs genomic sequencing with AI to find drugs.

NIH leadership vacancies

▪Jay Bhattacharya is the director of the National Institutes of Health as of May 2026.
▪The top spokesperson at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services resigned as of May 2026.
▪15 of 27 National Institutes of Health institutes are led by acting directors as of May 20, 2026.
▪There is no director at the FDA as of May 20, 2026.
▪Kyle Diamantas is the acting commissioner of the FDA as of May 2026.
▪There is no director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of May 20, 2026.
▪The U.S. surgeon general has not been confirmed as of May 20, 2026.

Graduate loan rule lawsuit

▪The Trump administration introduced its definition for what constitutes professional degrees in fall 2025.
▪The Department of Education graduate loan rule was initially approved by Congress in summer 2025 as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
▪Two dozen states and Washington D.C. filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education on May 19, 2026 challenging a new Trump administration rule on federal loan caps for graduate students.
▪The Department of Education rule allows students pursuing professional degrees to borrow up to $200,000 total in federal loans, while others are capped at $100,000.

Perimenopause treatment debate

▪Patricia Bencivenga is a special projects manager at the rational prescribing project Pharmed Out.
▪Patricia Bencivenga and Adriane Fugh-Berman discussed what the perimenopause movement is getting wrong on the First Opinion Podcast.