Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate as the next director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in July of this year. A geneticist and physician, Dr. Collins lead the Human Genome Project which culminated in 2003, yielding a completed sequence of the human genome. He has since initiated and overseen a variety of follow-up projects in large-scale genomics. He served as the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the NIH from 1993 to 2008. As NIH Director, Dr. Collins will oversee the 27 institutes and centers that comprise the NIH as well as the allocation of over $30 billion in federal research funding.
Dr. Collins earned his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Yale University and an MD with Honors from the University of North Carolina. He served on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, prior to joining the NIH as NHGRI director in 1993. During his tenure at NHGRI, Dr. Collins and his colleagues discovered the genetic basis for cystic fibrosis and neurofibromatosis and new insights into the genesis, diagnosis and treatment of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria and type 2 diabetes.
In November 2007, Dr. Collins was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is also an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. He authored the New York Times bestseller, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (Free Press, 2006), as well as a new book on personalized medicine, The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine (HarperCollins, to be published in early 2010).
Ole Miss Names Medical School Dean as Chancellor
Daniel W. Jones, MD, dean of the University of Mississippi's medical school and vice chancellor for health affairs, has been appointed as chancellor of Ole Miss. Dr. Jones, the Herbert G. Langford Professor of Medicine, succeeds Robert Khayat, JD, LLM, who retired from the post at the end of June. Effective July 1, Dr. Jones began his post as chancellor, overseeing the Oxford campus, the Medical Center in Jackson, and the degree-granting centers in Tupelo, Southaven and Grenada.
Dr. Jones served as vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine since 2003. During his tenure as the Medical Center's chief executive officer, the Medical Center prospered from a restructuring of its clinical component and was selected as one of the Thomson Top 100 Hospitals in America. Additionally, he led a successful campaign effort that yielded $53 million for scholarships, endowed chairs, facilities and programs. The Medical School also experienced an increase in the number of medical students. The medical faculty clinical practice was consolidated from 17 individual practice groups into 1, facilitating patient care. Under his leadership, particular attention was also given to eliminating health disparities among rural populations and the school's commitment to minority scholarships emphasized. As a result, during a five year period, enrollment of underrepresented medical students increased by 80 percent.
Dr. Jones, a native Mississippian, graduated from Mississippi College in 1971. He earned his MD at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), where he subsequently completed residency in internal medicine before opening a private practice in Laurel, MS. He went to Korea as a medical missionary in 1985 and, upon his return, became a faculty member at the UMMC in 1992. His career has focused on hypertension and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Jones served as the first principal investigator for the UMMC's participation in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Jackson Heart Study, which focused on cardiovascular disease in the African-American population. A former president of the American Heart Association (AHA), Dr. Jones is a member of the AHA's Council for High Blood Pressure Research and serves as an AHA national spokesperson on the topic of hypertension. Dr. Jones is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is designated as a specialist in clinical hypertension by the American Society of Hypertension Specialists. He serves on the board of Global Resource Services, a non-governmental organization that provides professional consultation in regions throughout the world that are challenged by conflict.
Dr. Mark Kline Receives Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital Appointments
Infectious disease expert Mark Kline, MD, has been named chair of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and physician-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital. Dr. Kline's appointment became effective July 1 this year, and he succeeds the late Dr. Ralph Feigin. An internationally recognized leader in pediatric human immunodeficiency disease (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), Dr. Kline has been a member of the BCM faculty and on staff at Texas Children's since 1990.
Dr. Kline has served as professor of pediatrics and head of the retrovirology section in the pediatrics department at BCM and as chief of the Texas Children's Retrovirology Service since 1997. He has a long history at BCM and Texas Children's, having earned his MD from BCM in 1981 and completing residency training at BCM and Texas Children's in 1984. He served as the chief resident in pediatrics and was a postdoctoral fellow in pediatric infectious diseases before accepting an assistant professorship of pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine. He returned to BCM and Texas Children's as an infectious diseases specialist developing the international pediatric HIV/AIDS program after 2 years in St. Louis. In 1996, Dr. Kline founded the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) at Texas Children's Hospital and plans to continue his involvement with the organization, which has established programs in 14 nations.
In 2007, Dr. Kline was honored with the BCM Distinguished Faculty Award. That same year, he was awarded the Medical Award of Excellence from Ronald McDonald House Charities. Among his honors and awards, he also received the 2002 Association of American Medical Colleges Humanism in Medicine Award.
University of Texas Southwestern Appoints New Dean of the School of Medicine
Internationally-renowned hepatologist, J. Gregory Fitz, MD, has been named as Dean of the School of Medicine and Provost of University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Fitz will also serve as the Executive Vice President-Academic Affairs at UT Southwestern Medical Center. His appointment was effective on October 1 this year.
Dr. Fitz, the Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern, joined the Medical Center in 2003. Prior to his arrival at UT Southwestern, Dr. Fitz was Professor of Medicine and Director of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program at Duke University Medical Center and subsequently head of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Fitz earned his MD from Duke University and completed residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of California, San Francisco. He is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Dr. Fitz is a member of several professional associations, including: the American Society for Clinical Investigation; the American Gastroenterological Association; the American Federation for Clinical Research, and the Association of American Physicians. He is also a member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, for which he has been selected as future President. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including a National Institutes of Health MERIT Award.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Names Deputy Director
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has announced Gregory G. Germino, MD, as its new deputy director. Dr. Germino is an internationally renowned expert in inherited kidney disease. Previously, Dr. Germino served as professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology and professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics while a research investigator at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Germino's work at Johns Hopkins contributed significantly to understanding the genetic origins of polycystic kidney disease, having yielded a series of genetically-altered mouse models that closely mimic human the disease as well as a number of high-quality antibodies, cell lines and cell cultures. He will continue this research in his new role at NIDDK in addition to overseeing an annual budget of $1.9 billion and staff of over 600 scientists, physician-scientists and administrators at the facilities in Bethesda, MD and Phoenix, AZ.
A 1983 graduate of the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, Dr. Germino trained in internal medicine and nephrology and subsequently served as a junior faculty member at Yale University. He spent a research year at Oxford University in England before joining The Johns Hopkins University in 1992, where he became a full professor in 2003. Dr. Germino has authored more than a dozen book chapters as well as numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is the 2005 Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize for the Advancement in the Understanding of Polycystic Kidney Disease recipient and was previously awarded the NIH Physician-Scientist Award (1998-1993) as well as the NIH MERIT Award in 2000.
Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University Names Vice Dean of Research
The Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University appointed Leonard P. Freedman, PhD, to the newly created position of Vice Dean for Research. Dr. Freedman will be responsible for developing a clear, coordinated strategy to forge effective collaboration and integration of the institution's clinical and research expertise.
A leader in the field of nuclear hormone receptors, Dr. Freedman's early research in the laboratory of Dr. Keith Yamamoto at the University of California, San Francisco, focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms by which glucocorticoid hormones regulate gene transcription. While a faculty member in Cell Biology & Genetics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Cornell University Medical College, Dr. Freedman investigated the biological roles of vitamin D3 receptor in myeloid cells. His work there produced new insights as to the role of vitamin D3 in gene regulation in the context of growth inhibition and differentiation.
Most recently, Dr. Freedman served as vice president of Discovery for Women's Health and Musculoskeletal Therapies at Wyeth Research. At Wyeth, Dr. Freedman co-chaired the Women's Health Therapeutic Area Leadership Team (TALT) and directed a group of over 100 scientists working to discover novel chemical and bio-therapeutic entities in women's health. Prior to his tenure at Wyeth, Dr. Freedman was the executive director for the Department of Molecular Endocrinology at Merck Research Labs, and served as adjunct professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Freedman received The Endocrine Society's Ernst Oppenheimer Award in 2002. He is also a recipient of the Boyer Research Award for Biomedical Research. He is a member of the American Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, American Society for Microbiology, American Society of Bone and Mineral Research, The Endocrine Society, The Harvey Society, and the New York Academy of Science. He has served on the editorial board of Molecular Endocrinology, Endocrinology and Endocrine Reviews, and has been an editor of Molecular and Cellular Biology for the past eight years. Dr. Freedman is a graduate of the University of Rochester, where he earned his Master of Science and PhD.
University of Minnesota Medical School Names Executive Vice Dean
The University of Minnesota Medical School (UMMS) has named Mark Paller, MD, MS as its executive vice dean. The appointment was effective July 1 of this year. Dr. Paller, a nephrologist, has been associated with UMMS for 27 years and has held a variety of roles within the school. He is a professor of medicine in the division of renal diseases and hypertension, Assistant Vice President for Research for the University's Academic Health Center (AHC), Director of the Research Services Organization (AHC); Director of Physician Management Pathway in the Internal Medicine Residency Program, and a member of the Graduate School Faculty in the Program in Clinical Research. He will continue his clinical practice in the Nephrology Clinic and as an Attending Nephrologist.
During his decade long tenure as the AHC's assistant vice president for research, Dr. Paller has worked to develop programs that promote research expansion. He served as lead on the collaborative Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics effort, an initiative involving the state of Minnesota, the University, and Mayo Clinic, and has overseen the peer review process for distributing approximately $60 million over the past five years to partnership projects.
Dr. Paller earned his MD from Northwestern University and his master's degree in administrative medicine from the University of Wisconsin. He completed residency in internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University and clinical and research fellowship in nephrology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Center for Devices and Radiological Health Director Resigns
Daniel Schultz, MD, announced his resignation from the post of Director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), a part of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on August 11. Jeffrey Shuren, MD, JD, the assistant commissioner for policy at the FDA, will serve as acting CDRH director.
Dr. Schultz joined the FDA in 1994 and served in the device center for 15 years. He became Director of the CDRH in 2004 and is credited for his role in crafting the agreement reauthorizing medical device user fees. The agreement, reached in 2007, has generated a stable source of funding for the FDA's device program.
Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Names Scientific Review Council Chair
Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, has been named as chair of the Scientific Review Council for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). Dr. Sharp, a professor at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), joins fellow Nobel Laureate Alfred G. Gilman, MD, PhD, who serves as the Institute's Chief Scientific Officer. Also on the CPRIT leadership team is the Executive Director of the Institute, William "Bill" Gimson, MBA. Mr. Gimson is the former Chief Operating Officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Sharp is a co-founder of Biogen (now Biogen Idec), and of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Richard J. Roberts, PhD, for their discovery of split genes. Additionally, he has received the National Medal of Science for Biological Sciences. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Sharp is an alumnus of the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He completed postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology and has served at MIT since 1974.