Peter Thiel Said To Be Playing Key Role In Filling Health, Science Posts Under Trump

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Publish Date:
December 20, 2016
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Source:
STAT News
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Summary

Peter Thiel, the iconoclastic Silicon Valley mogul who has been advising President-elect Donald Trump on technology policy, has become deeply involved in vetting candidates for other health and science posts in the administration, according to individuals familiar with his role.

Thiel, who has already advanced a candidate to lead the Food and Drug Administration, has been discussing possibilities with other prospective appointees about a variety of health and science jobs. Among others, he recently spoke with Elias Zerhouni, a former director of the National Institutes of Health and president of global research and development for Sanofi, about a top White House science job.

“In this administration, conflicts of interest are a feature, not a bug,” said Henry Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford Law School.

What worries Greely more, he said, are Thiel’s views on science, his focus on research to stop aging, and to achieve immortality.

“He seems to me a worrisome outlier in terms of his views about science and research,” Greely said. “He seems quite impatient with the normal ways things get done. I worry that he is interested in shaking up the research establishment and doing it in ways that lead to higher risk activities that have potentially higher rewards, but lower probabilities of being successful. That can be catastrophic.”

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