Wife of Acting AG Appointed to NIH Advisory Council; Critics Warn of Political Patronage

Kristine Blanche, an integrative medicine doctor and wife of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, has been appointed to the advisory council governing the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health—one of the bodies that provides critical funding recommendations to the National Institutes of Health. The appointment, which NIH has not publicly announced, marks the first such council appointment made in over a year, raising immediate questions about whether the pipeline for advisory appointments has reopened or whether this signals a selective and opaque process.

The move has drawn sharp criticism from current and former research officials. Joshua Gordon, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, described the appointment as "the worst kind of political patronage." Observers in the broader scientific community have expressed concern that the Trump administration may attempt to stack advisory councils with ideological allies positioned to steer federal research funding toward politically aligned priorities.

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health focuses on studying wellness practices and treatments outside conventional medicine—an area that has previously attracted scrutiny over the scientific rigor of funded research. The appointment of Blanche, whose medical background is in integrative medicine, to this specific council has intensified concerns about potential ideological influence over which studies receive federal support. It remains unclear whether additional appointments are forthcoming, but the episode has already heightened unease about the integrity of NIH advisory processes under the current administration.