ARPA-H Established Within NIH

Acting Deputy Director Named

ADAPTED FROM HHS NEWS RELEASE AND OTHER SOURCES

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra announced, on May 25, 2022, the formal establishment of the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H) as an independent entity within NIH and the appointment of Adam H. Russell as acting deputy director.

Russell was the chief scientist at the University of Maryland’s Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (College Park, Maryland). He spent more than a decade as a program manager, first at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, which invests in high-risk, high-payoff research programs to tackle some of the most difficult challenges of the agencies and disciplines in the Intelligence Community; and then at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which invests in breakthrough technologies for national security.

“We are ecstatic that Dr. Adam Russell has accepted the challenge to help launch ARPA-H, President Biden’s bold, new endeavor to support ambitious and potentially transformational health research in this country,” said Secretary Becerra in a recent news release. “ARPA-H will have a singular purpose: to drive breakthroughs in health, including the prevention, detection and treatment of diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes.”

Russell began his new role in June. President Biden will appoint an ARPA-H director who will be responsible for the administration and operation of ARPA-H and will report to the HHS Secretary. It has not yet been determined where ARPA-H will be physically located.