Bill Chapin (Courtesy of Trudeau Institute)

SARANAC LAKE — Dr. Atsuo Kuki, who has led Saranac Lake’s Trudeau Institute for the past six years, has left his position. The institute’s board of directors appointed Bill Chapin, the institute’s chief administrative officer and chief financial officer, as its interim director shortly after the new year.

Trudeau Institute Board Chair Kip Testwuide said Kuki went on a leave of absence for personal reasons late last year. Then, a few weeks ago, informed the board that he would not be returning.

“It was unexpected,” Testwuide said.

Testwuide said he would not discuss the reasons Kuki decided to leave because they are “personal.” He did say Kuki is not leaving the area; he’s just “taking time for himself.”

Kuki could not be reached for comment by deadline Monday.

Testwuide said Kuki set an “exciting vision” for the institute in his time there and “built an extremely capable team of scientists, technicians and leadership.” He said the board is grateful for his efforts at the helm.

In an interview with the Enterprise this past May, Kuki described three phases of “Trudeau.” “Trudeau 1.0” was Edward Livingston Trudeau, the doctor himself, doing tuberculosis research and treatments from his office and home in Saranac Lake in the late 1800s. Trudeau 2.0 started when the Trudeau Institute was founded in 1964 by the famous doctor’s grandson, Frank Trudeau. Kuki said Trudeau 3.0 started in 2016 and was an effort to “punch above (their) weight” and collaborate on the global scale by providing very focused research. He said the institute’s goal has been to provide valuable research and work in big projects.

Kuki lead the institute through the early years of the coronavirus pandemic. It wasn’t initially clear what role, if any, Trudeau Institute would play in the fight against COVID-19 as researchers around the world started studying coronaviruses — which have been known since the 1960s. But in 2020, two teams at Trudeau started working on COVID-19 in one way or another. One group focused on both influenza and the coronavirus. Another group, which initially focused on influenza and Zika, shifted about 90% of its operations to focus on a vaccine for COVID-19. A third team remained focused on tuberculosis, which continues to be Earth’s most deadly disease, killing 1.6 million people in 2022, according to the World Health Organization.

Kuki also helped to forge new partnerships with the local healthcare industry at that time. The institute partnered with Adirondack Health to manufacture chemical reagents for COVID-19 testing that were in short supply at the time. The institute also helped Adirondack Medical Center to maintain its supply of personal protective equipment by decontaminating its N-95 masks when they, too, were in short supply. Under Kuki’s tenure, the institute also collaborated hospital administrators to significantly increase AMC’s lab capacity, allowing the hospital to process more tests while also giving Trudeau Institute researchers the option to use the lab to develop tests for future outbreaks.

The institute also transitioned from receiving funding from biotechnology and bio-pharmaceutical companies to receiving funding from the federal government as well. Years ago, the independent institute used to get most of its funding from the federal government, but not anymore.

Testwuide said Trudeau Institute is doing fine financially. Their research is often funded by grants and through partnerships with academia and the biomedical industry. The institute employs around 60 people who are still carrying out their public health mission of treating people with infectious diseases — including tuberculosis, COVID-19 and Zika.

Kuki’s departure does not impact the institute’s direction, Testwuide said. It’s not quite business as usual, but the work and research goes on, he said.

Testwuide said there is no plan for a search for a permanent director yet. The transition is still in its early stages.

He said Chapin has been with the institute for around 10 years and knows its operations deeply.

“He’s in a good spot to step in and know pretty much what is going on in all faces of the institute,” Testwuide said. “He’s a very hard worker with a lot to do right now.”

Chapin was not immediately available for an interview by deadline Monday.

Testwuide said Trudeau Institute has been busy throughout the pandemic. Though the emergency period of the pandemic has eased, COVID-19 is still an illness that’s on the minds of many, he said. Researchers at the institute are still keeping busy.

Bill Reiley, a Trudeau Institute researcher, began working on universal COVID-19 vaccines before it reached U.S. shores and published a paper in partnership with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research with support from the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine program.

Last year, Trudeau Institute researcher In-Jeong Kim was the lead author on a paper researching a potential vaccine for the Zika virus. Her research showed a vaccine candidate as being safe and effective at preventing transmission to fetuses in pregnant animals.