No, Dr. Anthony’s Fauci’s wife isn’t the National Institutes of Health’s director

Before Dr. Anthony Fauci stepped down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases last year, he and his wife, Christine Grady, both worked at the National Institutes of Health. 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is one of 27 institutes and centers at the National Institutes of Health. Grady works at the Clinical Center, which is dubbed "America’s Research Hospital." 

But a recent social media post gave her a promotion. 

"This is Christine Grady," reads the caption of an Instagram post sharing Grady’s photo. "She is the HEAD of NIH her responsibility is to hold everyone accountable for faults done in the medical field of the facility esp the NIH… HER HUSBAND IS DR. FAUCI."

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Dr. Lawrence Tabak is the director of the National Institutes of Health. He stepped into the role in December 2021. Nearly two dozen deputy directors and associate directors serve under him, but Grady is not among them. 

Each institute and center also has its own director, but Grady isn’t one among those leaders, either. 

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stated on September 20, 2024 in an X post

First lady Jill Biden led a Cabinet meeting for President Joe Biden and her signature appears on presidential stationery.

Rather, she is the Clinical Center’s bioethics chief and heads the human subjects research section. 

"As part of her official duties, Dr. Grady and her staff teach medical ethics and perform research into complex ethical issues related to medicine and clinical research," the National Institutes of Health told PolitiFact in a statement in 2021, when we fact-checked a claim that Grady "rubber stamps exceptions to normal drug and vaccine testing." 

That was wrong, and so is the claim that she heads the agency. We rate this post False.