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17 February 2010
Science Envoy Elias Zerhouni
Professor of radiology, biomedical engineering, John Hopkins University
Elias Zerhouni received his medical degree at the University of Algiers School of Medicine before coming to America. He completed his residency at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he later served as a professor and chairman of the Radiology Department. Zerhouni also has served as a White House consultant to the World Health Organization.
In 2002, Zerhouni was appointed the 15th director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Under his leadership, the agency initiated the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, established an NIH-wide research initiative to address the obesity epidemic and made health disparities a research priority. Zerhouni stepped down as director in October 2008. He rejoined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University and became a senior fellow in the Global Health program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
His research has focused on the development of quantitative imaging methods based on CT (computerized tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanning to diagnose and treat cancer and pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases. He has 212 publications and holds eight patents.
Zerhouni is a member of the board of trustees of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, which opened in September 2009 in Saudi Arabia.
