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  1. Report of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation Council Subcommittee

Daniel Rotrosen, M.D., Director


Dr. Rotrosen announced the following new staff members and scientific activities:

Linda Ohler, MSN, RN, CCTC, FAAN, joined the Division in September as a Program Officer in the Transplantation Immunobiology Branch. Since 1988 Linda has been actively involved in solid organ transplantation. In 1999 Linda joined NIH to help establish the renal and islet cell transplant programs at the Clinical Center. While at the Clinical Center, Linda served on the IRB for NIDDK. Her research includes quality of life studies as well as stress and coping of heart transplant candidates and their families. She received her Master's of Science in Nursing at The Catholic University of America.

Perry Kirkham, Ph.D., joined the Transplantation Immunobiology Branch in December as a Program Officer. Dr. Kirkham received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He was a Burroughs-Welcome, Hitchings-Elion postdoctoral fellow at the Medical Research Council Center for Protein Engineering, Cambridge, UK and at UAB. Most recently, Dr. Kirkham served on the faculty at UAB where he conducted structural studies of immunoglobulin (Ig) and Ig-related domains and was Director of their Bacteriophage Display Core Facility.

Nancy D. Bridges, M.D., joined the Transplant Immunobiology Branch in October as Chief of the Clinical Transplantation Section. Dr. Bridges received her M.D. from New York University, and completed her post-medical school training in pediatric cardiology at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, and at The Children's Hospital, Boston, and Harvard Medical School She has been involved in the care of children with end-stage cardiovascular disease and those receiving thoracic organ transplants for the last 10 years, most recently as a Professor of Pediatrics at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. She is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at The University of Pennsylvania's Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Conrad Mallia, Ph.D., joined the Division in September as a Program Officer in the Basic Immunology Branch. He finished a post-doctoral fellowship in the National Cancer Institute, where he investigated the cellular and molecular control of signaling pathways. Dr. Mallia earned his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Tulane University, where he studied the signal transduction of hematopoiesis.

Timothy Gondré-Lewis, Ph.D., joined the Division in September as a Program Officer in the Basic Immunology Branch. He received his Ph.D. from the Medical College of Virginia -Virginia Commonwealth University and completed his post-doctoral training at the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, NY. His graduate and post-doctoral research focused on antigen processing and presentation in B cells and macrophages with emphasis on protease activities within those cells. Prior to NIH, Dr. Gondré-Lewis was an Assistant Professor at York College of The City University of New York.

Thomas R. Esch, Ph.D., joined the Division in October as a Program Officer in the Clinical Immunology Branch. Dr. Esch earned his Ph.D. in Immunology at the University of Michigan studying antigen presentation, and completed postdoctoral work at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia on autoimmune disease. Before joining the Division Dr. Esch was a member of the faculty at the Forsyth Institute in Boston and Harvard School of Dental Medicine, where his studies centered on Sjögren's syndrome.

Carole L. Cole joined the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation in December as Deputy Director in the Office of Program Planning, Operations, and Scientific Information. Ms. Cole has been with the Division of AIDS for the past 12 years, initially as a Biologist in the Basic Research Program, then as a Health Specialist in the Therapeutics Research Program, and, for the past 5 years, as the Special Assistant to the Associate Director for Therapeutics Research. Prior to joining DAIDS, Ms. Cole was a microbiologist with the National Naval Medical Center. In addition to a BS and MS in microbiology, she has a broad range of knowledge and experience covering grants administration, planning and evaluation, and program operations.

Nikki M. Williams, B.S., joined the Office of Clinical Applications in September as a Health Specialist/Project Manager. Her responsibilities include protocol development and implementation of transplant trials. Ms. Williams has prior research experience as a monitor and project manager in the following areas: liver transplantation, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. She received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from Howard University.

Linda M. Griffith, M.D., Ph.D., joined the Division in September as a Medical Officer in the Clinical Immunology Branch after serving 3 years as a Senior Staff Fellow in the Department of Transfusion Medicine, Clinical Center, NIH, where her interests included transfusion medicine support for hematopoietic cell transplantation. Dr. Griffith received her M.D. from the University of Miami School of Medicine, and her Ph.D. from Harvard University, Division of Medical Sciences. She trained in Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Yale University School of Medicine. She was previously an Assistant Medical Director at the Indiana Blood Center in Indianapolis.

Josiah Wedgwood, M.D., Ph.D., joined the Division in November as Chief of the Section on Immunodeficiency and Immunopathology, Clinical Immunology Branch. Dr. Wedgwood earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Harvard University study glycoprotein biosynthesis. He completed his M.D. at George Washington University and has clinical training in Pediatrics (New York Hospital/Cornell University Medical Center), and Neonatology (Schneider Children's Hospital/LIJ Medical Center). He has held academic appointments at SUNY at Stony Brook, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Yale Medical School. His research has focused on the development of B lymphocyte function in human newborns and idiotype/anti-idiotype networks in autoimmune disease.

DIVISION ACTIVITIES

Annual U.S.-Japan Immunology Board Joint Meeting: The twentieth annual joint meeting of the U.S. and Japanese Immunology Boards of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Sciences Program convened in Tokyo, Japan, on December 7, 2002. This meeting was held in conjunction with the annual conference of the Japanese Immunology Society. Current research results were presented by members of the U.S and Japanese Boards.

Transplantation Research Coordinating Committee. NIAID, as the lead institute for transplantation research at the NIH, convened a meeting of the Transplantation Research Coordinating Committee (TRCC) on November 6, 2002. Congress created the TRCC to facilitate coordination of research efforts in the area of transplantation among NIH Institutes and Centers and other Federal Agencies. Representatives from several ICs, the NIH Director's Office of Behavioral and Social Studies Research, and the Health Resources and Services Administration presented overviews of their organizations' programs in organ, tissue, and cell transplantation research. Other topics included efforts to increase organ donation and procurement, support for new investigators in transplantation research through training programs, and the development of new technologies and bioengineered materials for transplantation.

Non-human Primate Transplantation Techniques Workshop. On October 31- November 1, DAIT and the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare sponsored a workshop to facilitate the exchange of information among investigators conducting transplantation research in non-human primates. The workshop covered discussions on disease models, surgical techniques, immune monitoring, and animal care. NIAID and Dr. Hugh Auchincloss from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston organized the workshop, which was the first of its kind for the non-human primate research community. Approximately 100 transplantation researchers and veterinarians from the United States, Canada, and Europe participated, including representatives from industry, the Food and Drug Administration, and the NIH National Center for Research Resources.

FISCAL YEAR 2004 AND 2005 RESEARCH EMPHASIS AREAS

Dr. Rotrosen gave a general overview of the Division's research emphasis areas related to the portfolio, focusing on new initiatives that where in fiscal 2004, funding mechanisms and allocation of resources.

Drs. Quill, Plaut, Wedgwood, and Prasad from the Basic Immunology, Asthma, Allergy and Inflammation, Clinical Immunology and Transplantation Immunobiology Branches respectively, presented a more detail analysis of their individual portfolios or programs describing the different areas of investigation, mechanisms of funding, allocation of resources, and major accomplishments including up-coming initiatives in Biodefense.

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Highlights

Justification Narrative for FY 2008 President's Budget for NIAID

NIAID 2007 Fact Book (PDF, 7.9MB)

Selected NIAID Science Advances, 2007-2008 (PDF)