Elias A. Zerhouni

Elias A. Zerhouni is an Algerian born American radiologist and medical researcher. He was the 15th director of the National Institutes of Health, appointed by George W. Bush in May 2002. He served for 6 years, stepping down in October, 2008.

A resident of Pasadena, Maryland, Zerhouni is of Algerian descent. He was born in Nedroma in Tlemcen Province. He emigrated to the United States at age 24, having earned his M.D. at the University of Algiers School of Medicine in 1975. After completing his residency in diagnostic radiology at Johns Hopkins in 1978 as chief resident, he served as assistant professor in 1979 and associate professor in 1985. Between 1981 and 1985, he was in the department of radiology at Eastern Virginia Medical School and its affiliated DePaul Hospital. In 1988, Zerhouni returned to Johns Hopkins where he was appointed director of the MRI division, becoming chair of the Russell H. Morgan department of radiology and radiological science, and Martin Donner professor of radiology and professor of biomedical engineering. Zerhouni went on to serve as Executive Vice-Dean of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Zerhouni (John Hopkins University's) MRI division's imaging research led to major advances in Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT scanning) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This MRI division is credited with developing novel quantitative imaging methods used for diagnosing cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary disease. As one of the world’s premier experts in computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), this department extended the role of CT and MRI from taking snapshots of gross anatomy to visualizing how the body works at the physiologic and molecular level. This MRI division pioneered magnetic tagging, a non-invasive method of using MRI to track the motions and accurately measure the function of a heart in three dimensions. This MRI division is also known for refining an imaging technique called quantitative computed tomographic (CT) densitometry that helps discriminate between non-cancerous and cancerous nodules in the lung and for developing and applying the method of High Resolution CT for the study of heart and lung structure and function and for diagnosing cancer.

Partly based on this MRI division's research and inventions (John Hopkins University's), Zerhouni founded or co-founded 5 start up companies. He founded Computerized Imaging Reference Systems (CIRS) in 1982 where he served as founder and chairman for several years. He founded Advanced Medical Imaging in 1989, which was later sold to a major public company. He is a co-inventor and co-founder of Biopsys Corporation which became public before being acquired by a major public company in 1996. He co-founded American Radiology Services and served as chairman and CEO of it until 2002 and he is a co-inventor and co-founder of Surgivision, Inc. an MRI image guided surgery company. This MRI division's research in imaging led to advances in Computed tomography (CAT scanning) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) that resulted in 157 peer reviewed publications and 8 patents.

In 1985, he was a consultant to the White House under President Ronald Reagan. In 1988, he was a consultant to the World Health Organization. Since 2000, he has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. He had served on the National Cancer Institute's Board of Scientific Advisors from 1998-2002.He has won several awards for his research including a Gold Medal from the American Roentgen Ray Society for CT research and two Paul Lauterbur Awards for MRI research. Zerhouni received the honorary title Doctor Emeritus from the University of Algiers in 2005. He received the Légion d'honneur from the French National Order in 2008. In 2010, Zerhouni received an honorary degree (L.H.D.) from Johns Hopkins University for service to the university and the nation.[1]

Since leaving the NIH, Zerhouni has been appointed to the boards of the Lasker Foundation, Research!America, and the Mayo Clinic. He joined the board of trustees for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) when the school opened in September,2009. He was also named by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to the chairmanship of the Maryland Economic Development Commission. Zerhouni was also recently appointed as Chief Scientific Advisor of Science-Translational Medicine, a sister publication of Science Magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He also advises the CEO of a global pharmaceutical and vaccines company, Sanofi-Aventis, on science and technology issues and serves on the board of Actelion Pharmaceuticals, a Swiss biotechnology company. He is also a Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.[2]

Most recently, in 2010, Zerhouni formed the Zerhouni Group, LLC, a global science and health consulting firm. In addition, Dr. Zerhouni has been a scientific advisor to Chief Executive Chris Viehbacher of sanofi-aventis since February 2009. Lately, sanofi-aventis named Dr. Zerhouni as the new head of research and development on Tuesday, Dec 14 2010 and will report directly to the CEO. Of late, it has been mentioned, that he is a Senior Fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Global Health), and is Chief Scientific Advisor to the prestigious journal Science Translational Medicine, of the AAAS.