Kass, who was appointed to the post by President George Bush four years ago, will be replaced by Edmund Pellegrino, 85, a retired professor of medicine and medical ethics at Georgetown University Medical Center and a former president of Catholic University, reported the Washington Post.
Council spokeswoman Diane Gianelli said Kass asked to be relieved of the chairmanship, saying he felt increasingly burdened by the amount of work involved in the post.
Pellegrino, who is also affiliated with Georgetown’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics, will begin in his new post in October.