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WASHINGTON — Eric Lander’s resignation as White House science adviser this week has only magnified the federal government’s void in scientific leadership, further calling into question the Biden administration’s ability to move forward on a number of signature research proposals.

Lander’s departure as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy amid a workplace abuse scandal leaves vacancies at three key scientific agencies: OSTP, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.

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Without high-level scientific leadership, it’s unclear who in the administration can champion key scientific priorities on Capitol Hill: Among them, the newly relaunched Cancer Moonshot, the push to create a new high-stakes research agency called ARPA-H, and a $65 billion plan to remake the U.S. pandemic-response infrastructure.

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