Josh Fessel
Former CMO & Director, Office of Translational Medicine, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH | Regulatory & Science
Josh Fessel is a physician-scientist whose career has spanned academic medicine, the research laboratory, and senior science leadership in the federal government. Trained as a pulmonologist and critical-care physician with a doctorate in biomedical research, he was earlier on the faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he ran an NIH-funded laboratory studying how the body’s use of energy shapes complex disease while maintaining an active clinical practice.
Fessel joined federal service as a medical officer in the Division of Lung Diseases at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, where he was deeply involved in the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He later moved to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), where he served as senior clinical advisor and ultimately as chief medical officer and director of the Office of Translational Medicine, working to connect basic and clinical scientists and to improve how therapeutics are developed. He resigned from federal service in March 2025, and now works in clinical-research artificial intelligence at Dyania Health.
Fessel appeared on Open Door Salon alongside Frank Watanabe, president and chief executive of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, for a conversation on how the life-sciences enterprise can adapt to an unusually unstable funding and policy environment. Speaking from the academic and former-government vantage point, Fessel’s central warning was that too much of American biomedical research rests on a single point of failure: federal funding.
His advice was to diversify how research is supported, to think globally as other countries move to recruit US scientific talent, and to build resilience through partnership, what he called “co-opetition,” before it is needed rather than after. He also offered a constructive idea he has been developing: state-level “learning health systems” that knit together public universities, healthcare delivery, communities, and private-sector partners into engines of regional biomedical innovation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Josh Fessel
What is Josh Fessel an expert in?
Josh Fessel is an expert in translational medicine, biomedical research policy, and drug development. A pulmonologist and critical-care physician-scientist, he focuses on how basic and clinical science connect to develop new therapeutics.
Who is Josh Fessel?
Josh Fessel is a physician-scientist whose career has spanned academic medicine, the research laboratory, and senior science leadership in the federal government. He served as chief medical officer and director of the Office of Translational Medicine at the NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), was earlier on the faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and resigned from federal service in March 2025; he now works in clinical-research artificial intelligence at Dyania Health. He appeared on Open Door Salon, the life sciences podcast hosted by Lori Ellis.
How does Josh Fessel think about the resilience of US biomedical research?
Josh Fessel's central warning is that too much American biomedical research rests on a single point of failure: federal funding. His advice is to diversify how research is supported, to think globally as other countries move to recruit US scientific talent, and to build resilience through partnership, what he calls “co-opetition,” before it is needed rather than after. He has also proposed state-level “learning health systems” that knit together public universities, healthcare delivery, communities, and private-sector partners.
What organizations is Josh Fessel affiliated with?
Josh Fessel currently works at Dyania Health, a clinical-research artificial-intelligence company. He previously served at the NIH, as chief medical officer and director of the Office of Translational Medicine at NCATS and as a medical officer at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and was earlier on the faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
On Open Door Salon
“Cash Is Oxygen: Surviving Biotech's Chaos”
Frank Watanabe & Josh Fessel · February 18, 2026
Episode page & show notes on Open Door Salon
In this episode
- From the bench and the ICU to federal science leadership
- "Diversify, diversify, diversify" — beyond a single point of failure
- When federal funding became unstable almost overnight
- Think globally: other countries are recruiting US talent
- The brain-drain risk to early-career scientists
- "Co-opetition" — partnering before you need it
- A state-level "learning health system" as a new model
- AI in health research: real roles vs. irrational exuberance
- Stepping away from federal service
Topics
Watch on Open Door Salon
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