Richard Nakamura, PhD, has been named Acting Director of the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He succeeds CSR Director Toni Scarpa, MD, PhD. Dr.Scarpa, who served as CSR Director for six years, announced his retirement in July. Dr. Nakamura has served at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), of the NIH, for 35 years, where he served as Scientific Director and Deputy Director and, from 2001 to 2002, as Acting Director. In his new post, he will oversee incoming NIH grant applications management.
Dr. Nakamura earned his MA in psychology from New York University and completed his PhD in psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He joined the NIMH as a postdoctoral fellow in 1976. During his tenure at NIMH, he held numerous leadership roles, including: Associate Director for Science Policy and Program Planning; Chief, Behavioral and Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch; and Coordinator, Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) Office of Animal Research Issues. He has received numerous honors for his leadership and service, including the Presidential Rank Award for outstanding leadership as well as awards from the Federation of Behavioral Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and from the International Society for Behavioral Neuroscience. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
GHSU Appoints Director of Cancer Center
Samir N. Khleif, MD, Chief of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Cancer Vaccine Section, has been named Director of the Georgia Health Sciences University (GHSU) Cancer Center. In his new post, Dr. Khleif will oversee cancer clinical care and research at GHSU.
Dr. Khleif’s research has included pioneering cancer vaccine clinical trials aimed at targeting specific genetic changes in cancer cells. He joined the NCI in 1990, and has also served as a medical oncology consultant with the National Naval Medical Center and as a Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. While at the NCI, he was Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the King Hussein Cancer Center, and subsequently of the King Hussein Institute for Biotechnology and Cancer, appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services through an agreement between the United States and the Kingdom of Jordan. He has also served as a Special Assistant to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner.
Dr. Khleif earned his MD from the University of Jordan. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Medical College of Ohio and a fellowship in medical oncology at the NCI. Among other distinctions, Dr. Khleif has received the NIH Award for Merit, and the NCI Directors’ Gold Star Award. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Temple University School of Medicine Names Executive Dean and CEO of Temple University Health System
Arthur M. Feldman, MD, PhD, has been appointed Executive Dean of Temple University School of Medicine and Chief Academic Officer of Temple University Health System. He joins Temple University from Jefferson Medical College, where he served as the Magee Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine. In his new post, Dr. Feldman will be charged with providing leadership for the alignment of the School of Medicine’s academic and clinical missions and will work to bolster translational research initiatives.
Dr. Feldman earned his MD at Louisiana State University School of Medicine and completed internship, residency in internal medicine, and fellowship in cardiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He then served for nearly a decade as Director of the Belfer Laboratory for Molecular Biology of Heart Failure and the Director of the Heart Failure Research Program at Johns Hopkins before accepting a post as the Harry S. Tack Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Cardiology, and Director of the Cardiovascular Institute of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Health System. Dr. Feldman is widely recognized for his cardiovascular research and has led several multi-center clinical trials. He is editor of the textbooks Heart Failure: Pharmacologic Management and Heart Failure: Device Management. He has received numerous honors for his work, including the Clinician-Scientist Faculty Development Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Jefferson Kimmel Cancer Center Lifetime Achievement Award for Continuous Contributions in Clinical and Translational Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and past president of both the Association of Professors of Cardiology and of the Heart Failure Society of America.
Montefiore Medical Center Names Director of Genetic and Genomic Testing
Harry Ostrer, MD, has joined the faculty of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University as professor of pathology and of genetics, and will serve as director of genetic and genomic testing at Montefiore Medical Center, the academic medical center for Einstein. Dr. Ostrer joined Einstein in September from New York University School of Medicine, where he served as director of the human genetics program and professor of pediatrics, of pathology, and of medicine for the past 21 years. In his new post, he will lead development and clinical implementation of genetic testing.
Dr. Ostrer earned his MD from Columbia University. He trained in pediatrics and in medical genetics at Johns Hopkins University and in molecular genetics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His research has focused on the genetic basis of prostate and breast cancers and therapy outcomes. His medical interests also include pediatric biochemical genetics, human genetics, Kabuki Syndrome, Multiple Pterygium Syndrome, and Cytogenetics. As part of his appointment at Montefiore, he will see patients on a consultative basis. Dr. Ostrer serves as the lead organizer of the Jewish HapMap Project.
BCM Appoints Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Population Science, McNair Scholar
Melissa Bondy, PhD, has been appointed associate director for prevention and population science in the NCI-designated Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center and will serve as a Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) McNair Scholar in breast cancer. Dr. Bondy, who has served as the director of the Childhood Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Center since its inception in 2001, will also receive a Duncan Chair. She will serve as a professor in the BCM Department of Pediatrics Hematology and Oncology Division, and will have joint appointments in the Duncan Cancer Center and Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center.
Dr. Bondy is the fourth McNair Scholar to be appointed since the program began in 2010. The McNair Scholar Program is supported by the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation and managed by the McNair Medical Institute. Scholars are selected from the areas of breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, juvenile diabetes and neuroscience. Dr. Bondy’s research is primarily focused on brain and breast cancer. She conducts genetic and molecular epidemiology studies to assess the roles of heredity and genetic susceptibility in the origination of these cancers. Dr. Bondy earned a master’s of science in epidemiology–environmental science and PhD in epidemiology from The University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.
Dartmouth Medical School Appoints Pharmacology/Toxicology Chair
Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD, has been appointed chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC). He succeeds Joyce A. DeLeo, PhD, who moved to Emmanuel College to serve as vice president for academic affairs. Dr. Dmitrovsky previously served in this capacity for a decade, and was also interim dean of DMS before becoming an American Cancer Society (ACS) Clinical Research Professor in 2008. He will continue to serve as ACS Clinical Research Professor and will also retain his leadership role on the Board of Scientific Counselors for Clinical Sciences and Epidemiology for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr. Dmitrovsky earned his MD at Cornell University Medical College in 1980. He completed residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital-Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he then served on the faculty for more than 10 years prior to joining DMS. His previous tenure as chair was marked by successful recruitment of numerous top researchers to DMS. He has also served as senior advisor to the president of Dartmouth College for science and technology, and is an associate director of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation and a board member of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology Director Named
Jean-Pierre Issa, MD, has been appointed Professor of Medicine and Director of Temple University School of Medicine’s Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology. Dr. Issa joins Temple from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, where he served as American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor, Chief of the Section of Translational Research in the Department of Leukemia, and Co-Director of the Center for Cancer Epigenetics at the Institute of Basic Sciences. In his new post, Dr. Issa will work to promote interdisciplinary research collaboration and translational research efforts.
Dr. Issa earned his MD from the American University of Beirut. He completed residency in Internal Medicine at Good Samaritan Hospital, and a four-year oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He has served as principal investigator and project leader of several research projects funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His work has focused on whole genome epigenetic studies, for which he has received numerous honors. In 1997, he was awarded a Sidney Kimmel Foundation Scholar Award and, in 2003, was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation. Among other distinctions, he has also received The Frei Award in Translational Research from the Division of Cancer Medicine at M. D. Anderson, and the Rosenthal Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (2011). Dr. Issa is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
UAB Names Department of Neurology Chair
David G. Standaert, MD, PhD, has been appointed chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He had served as interim chair of the department for the previous year. Dr. Standaert is an expert in Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. He holds the John and Juanelle Strain Endowed Chair in Neurology and is the director of the UAB Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics, the Division of Movement Disorders and the UAB Comprehensive Neuroscience Center.
An alumnus of Harvard College, Dr. Standaert earned his MD and PhD degrees from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed an internship in medicine at Jewish Hospital of St. Louis, and a three-year neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania. He subsequently completed a research and clinical fellowship in neurology, specializing in movement disorders, at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to joining UAB in 2006, he served on the HMS faculty for 14 years. Dr. Standaert is a member of the scientific advisory boards of the American Parkinson Disease Association and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
University of Kentucky College of Medicine Names Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine
Susan Smyth, MD, PhD, has been appointed as Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine within the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Medicine’s Division of Internal Medicine. She succeeds David Moliterno, MD, who now serves as chair of the Department of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Smyth has served at UK since 2006. She directs the MD/PhD program and a cardiovascular research training program for fellows. She serves as co-director of education and training programs for the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), and is chair of the research and developmental committee for the Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center. A professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Dr. Smyth holds a joint appointment in the Departments of Physiology, Behavioral Sciences and Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology.
Dr. Smyth earned her MD and PhD degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served as an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology prior to joining UK. She has been recognized for her work with numerous awards, including the Young Investigator Award from GlaxoSmithKline, the Stewart-Niewiarowski Award in Vascular Biology, the Physician Scientist Award from Pfizer, and the Medical Alumni Endowment Award from UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a member of the leadership committee for the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB) Council of the American Heart Association (AHA). She is also a fellow of the AHA and of the American College of Cardiology and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation.
NIH Genome Institute Leadership Appointments Announced
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced two key appointments. Mark S. Guyer, PhD, has been named NHGRI Deputy Director, and James C. Mullikin, PhD, has been appointed as Director of the NIH Intramural Sequencing Center (NISC). Dr. Guyer, who serves as director of NHGRI’s Division of Extramural Research, will be only the third deputy director of the institute, which was founded in 1988. Dr. Mullikin had been serving as the acting director of the NISC, which was established in 1997.
Dr. Guyer earned his PhD in bacteriology and immunology from the University of California, Berkeley. He has participated in the scientific administration of the Human Genome Project (HGP) since it began, first serving as a staff liaison to the planning process when he was a Program Director at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), of the NIH. He has taken on a variety of roles as the agency has developed. He has participated in all phases of the NHGRI’s scientific activities, and was responsible for the development of the NHGRI’s series of five-year plans for the HGP in the United States.
Dr. Mullikin earned his PhD in physics, with a focus on image and signal processing, from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands. He has been with NISC since 2003, and has served as acting director for the past two years. He also serves as an associate investigator in NHGRI’s Genome Technology Branch and is head of the Comparative Genomics Unit. Prior to joining NHGRI, Dr. Mullikin worked at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom, where he led the production informatics department.