Twenty-seven fingers without a palm is not a hand: a conversation with Elias Zerhouni.

The director of the National Institutes of Health, Elias Zerhouni, looks back on his first eighteen months at the helm of the NIH. During his tenure, appointed by a Republican president but himself a political Independent, Zerhouni has been called upon to navigate the treacherous waters where science meets politics. His efforts have been assisted by a new Roadmap supplemented by the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine, regarding the organization and priorities of the NIH. Priorities include continuing to work on infectious and chronic diseases, both at home and abroad, and focusing the efforts of twenty-seven separate institutes under one director and a common organizational mission.