Richard Klausner

Following weeks of speculation, Richard Klausner announced last month that he was quitting his job as director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) after six years. Rumors abound as to his reasons for leaving the largest group within the NIH, and if anything, these were enhanced by his revelation that he is leaving to lead a “theoretical organization” within the Case Foundation.

Klausner was a highly successful and charismatic director. He is widely credited with expanding NCI's range of work; for example, by promoting minority research, epidemiological studies and scaling-up clinical trials. Last year he presided over a research budget of $3.8 billion. Yet there is speculation that he clashed with the Bush administration over issues such as salary increases for NCI executives and that this precipitated his departure.

As head of the new Case Institute, funded by Steve Case, chairperson of AOL Time Warner, Klausner will coordinate “new ideas and solutions across the boundaries of traditional scientific disciplines.” Examples include a program aimed at linking biology, nano- and micro-technology, chemistry and information sciences to transform health, disease and environmental research.