STAT+: Trump's pick for science adviser is a rarity among his nominees — he's not controversial

Virtually every U.S. president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has relied on an esteemed scientist or engineer to advise them on some of the nation’s most complex and pressing issues, from climate change and energy policy to national defense and stem cell research. But in a departure from long-standing tradition, that task will fall to someone who is not a researcher in the second Trump administration.

Michael Kratsios, a 38-year-old technologist with experience in venture capital, is President Trump’s pick to serve as science adviser and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, or OSTP. These roles would place Kratsios directly in the White House, where his tasks would range from offering input on the federal research budget to coordinating the scientific activities of various government agencies.

It’s a role that former colleagues told STAT Kratsios is well suited for, despite his unorthodox background. Kratsios served in OSTP during the first Trump administration, and he was for years the office’s highest ranking official. Those who worked with him — including officials whose careers spanned Democratic and Republican administrations — described him as a thoughtful, tactful leader with uncanny listening skills. During his first stint in the White House, he was keenly focused on artificial intelligence and quantum computing, with an emphasis on avoiding over-regulation and ensuring U.S. technology leadership over China — policies taking on greater visibility and urgency in the new administration. The life sciences mostly took a backseat to these efforts, though biotechnology was framed as one of the nation’s key emerging technologies. 

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