Elias Zerhouni

Elias Zerhouni
الياس زرهوني
Portrait of Zerhouni
15th Director of the National Institutes of Health
In office
May 2, 2002 – October 31, 2008
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byHarold Varmus
Succeeded byFrancis Collins
Personal details
Born (1951-04-12) April 12, 1951
Citizenship
  • Algeria
  • United States
Scientific career
EducationUniversity of Algiers (MD)
Known for
Awardssee "Awards and International Recognition" below
FieldsMedical imaging
Institutions

Elias Zerhouni (Arabic: الياس زرهوني; born April 12, 1951) is an Algerian-born American radiologist and biomedical engineer who has held leadership roles in academia, government, and the pharmaceutical industry.

Zerhouni was a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and served as the executive vice-dean from 1996 to 2002. He also served as the 15th director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from May 2, 2002, to October 31, 2008, under the George W. Bush administration. In 2009, under the Obama administration, he was appointed as one of the first presidential science envoys. He was a senior fellow for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from 2009 to 2010. From January 2011 until his retirement on June 30, 2018, he was the president of Global Research and Development at the pharmaceutical company Sanofi.

In October 2020, Zerhouni co-founded ModeX Therapeutics, a privately held biotechnology company focused on immune-based therapies for cancer and infectious diseases. In 2022, ModeX Therapeutics was acquired by OPKO Health, wherein Zerhouni was appointed as the vice-chairman and president.