Friday, July 24, 2026

NIH selects Dr. Courtney Aklin as director of the National Institute of Nursing Research 

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., today announced the selection of Courtney F. Aklin, Ph.D., as director of NIH’s National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). Dr. Aklin is currently the Acting Director and Acting Scientific Director at NINR, positions she has held since April 2025. In these roles, she has led the NINR’s scientific and organizational strategy, strengthened NIH-wide collaborations and advanced research priorities that position nursing science to address complex health challenges. She is expected to begin her permanent role as the NINR director on July 26, 2026.

“Nursing science plays a vital role in improving health outcomes for patients and families at every stage of life,” said Dr. Bhattacharya. “Dr. Aklin has spent more than two decades at NIH, and for more than a year, has effectively led NINR as Acting Director. She knows this Institute, she knows its people, and she knows the science. I’m confident she will be an outstanding director for NINR.”

As NINR director, Dr. Aklin will oversee NINR’s annual budget of nearly $200 million, the majority of which supports extramural research at institutions across the United States. NINR researchers and supported science teams conduct rigorous, solutions-oriented research to address pressing health challenges, improve care delivery, and inform practice. The Institute’s extramural and intramural research programs advance science across a range of real-world settings and populations, including research focused on conditions of daily life, the distribution of health and disease, disease prevention and management, and systems and settings of care. Across these programs, NINR also invests in research training and career development to prepare the next generation of nurse scientists.

Dr. Aklin has more than 21 years of scientific, strategic, and executive leadership experience at NIH, with a career dedicated to advancing biomedical research, strengthening scientific organizations, and accelerating the translation of evidence into improved health. Prior to assuming her current roles at NINR, Dr. Aklin served as the NINR Deputy Director beginning in September 2023. She additionally served as Acting Associate Deputy Director of NIH from December 2021 to September 2023 and was also a senior advisor within the Immediate Office of the Director (IMOD), where she advised NIH leadership on complex scientific and organizational priorities, enterprise strategy, and high-impact initiatives supporting the effective operation of IMOD. She also previously served as the Chief of Staff at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

At the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Dr. Aklin led programs that expanded research capacity and strengthened the biomedical workforce by supporting the development of emerging neuroscience research programs at universities and medical schools. Prior to her work at NINDS, she managed and advanced the fear and anxiety research portfolio at the National Institute of Mental Health. She came to NIH in 2004 as an American Association for the Advancement of Sciences Science and Technology Policy Fellow to work on activities related to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee.

Dr. Aklin is a licensed clinical psychologist whose expertise spans behavioral, translational, and implantation science. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a B.A. in business administration and psychology from the University of Richmond.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health^®