WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Tuesday named Arati Prabhakar as the new White House science adviser, who would be the first woman of color and the first immigrant to hold such a position if confirmed by the Senate.
Prabhakar would head the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. His predecessor Eric Lander resigned from his post in February after violating the Biden administration’s workplace policy.
His portfolio will include issues ranging from climate change to physical sciences. Prabhakar will also play a vital role in Cancer Moonshot 2.0 – a personally important initiative for Biden that aims to halve the cancer death rate over the next 25 years.
Prabhakar previously led the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – a Pentagon entity that develops advanced national security technologies – under former President Barack Obama, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology under former President Bill Clinton.
