Staff Highlights

Staff Honors and Awards

Ana Anders, SPO, was elected president of the NIH Hispanic Employee Organization.

Dr. Steven Grant, DCNBR, served on the fingerprint panel and as an expert reviewer on Knowledge Management for Disease Coding (KDMC) sub-committee on "Mind and Brain".

Dr. Rao Rapaka, DBNBR, has agreed to serve as the "Associate Editor" for the AAPS Journal (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Journal).

Dr. Jerry Flanzer, Services Research Branch, Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research, received an award for Outstanding Leadership and Excellence in Advancing Social Work Research, Research Infrastructure and Knowledge from the National Association of Deans and Directors of Social Work (NADD) at their Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA., January 2007.

Dr. Amy Newman, IRP, filed the following patent: Newman A. H.; Kulkarni, S. S. Modulators of the Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 5 And Uses Thereof. U.S. Patent Application filed January 26, 2007.

Staff Changes

Dr. Kevin P. Conway has been appointed as Deputy Director of the Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research (DESPR). Kevin returns to DESPR after serving as the Associate Director of DCNBR for nearly 2 years. Prior to that time, Kevin was a program official and deputy branch chief in the Epidemiology Research Branch in DESPR. Prior to joining NIDA in 2001, Dr. Conway was a faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Conway earned the Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Temple University in 1998.

Dr. Mary Kautz joined the Clinical Neuroscience Branch, DCNBR as a program officer. Mary received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from The American University in Washington, D.C. and was a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bowman Gray School of Medicine (of Wake Forest University). She subsequently conducted human behavioral pharmacology research on factors to maintain or improve cognitive performance during periods of simulated, sustained or continuous operations as a Commissioned Army Officer in the U.S. Army at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Dr. Liberman joined the Services Research Branch of DESPR where his focus will be on services research with criminal justice populations. Before joining NIDA, Dr. Liberman served as a Social Science Analyst at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) of the U. S. Department of Justice. He is the editor of the forthcoming volume, The Long View: A Synthesis of Recent Longitudinal Studies of Crime and Delinquency, to be published by Springer. Dr. Liberman has published on topics including police stress, minority over-representation in the juvenile and criminal justice systems, and juvenile waiver to criminal court, as well as basic research in social psychology. He has conducted criminal justice research at Columbia University and the New York City Criminal Justice Agency, and taught in the Psychology Department at the University of Arizona. Dr. Liberman holds a Ph.D. in psychology from New York University.

Dr. Yu (Woody) Lin joined the Clinical Neurobiology Branch, DCNBR, where he will direct the portfolio in HIV/AIDS and Pain. Dr. Lin was formerly a program officer in DBNBR.

Dr. Samia Dawud Noursi has joined the Women and Sex/Gender Research Program as Deputy Coordinator. She is not new to NIDA as she was Special Assistant to the Director in DESPR for the past year. Dr. Noursi holds a Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Maryland and was awarded a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at NICHD during which she led a longitudinal study on the effects of domestic violence on children's development. Prior to joining NIDA, Dr. Noursi was a Social Science Analyst in the Division of Services and Intervention Research at NIMH and worked on a variety of projects including efforts to bridge science to services.

Eric P. Zatman, Contracts Review Branch, Office of Extramural Affairs, retired after 33 years of government service on May 2, 2007. Eric spent the last 30 years with NIDA, serving as a Public Health Advisor in the Prevention Branch in the 1970s and in the NIDA Treatment Research Branch, Division of Community Assistance, working as a state-wide Services Program Official responsible for the federal government match for the States of North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. He also served as a Contract Specialist in the Contracts Management Branch and, for the past 20 years, has served as a contract proposal review administrator. Eric also represented NIDA as a member of the NIH-wide team that drafted the updated NIH Policy Manual Issuance on Initiation, Review, Evaluation, and Award of Research & Development (R&D) Contracts. Eric is a recent recipient of the NIDA Director's Award of Merit for his contribution as the review administrator for the NIH Blueprint Neuroscience Information Framework Broad Agency Announcement.

Pamela K. Stokes, Office of Extramural Affairs, has retired after 36 years of government service, 29 of which were at NIDA. She started her government career with the Division of Research Grants, in the Career Development Research Branch at NIH. She next moved to NIMH, where she was a Grants Technical Assistant, and she then came to NIDA as a secretary in a program office and moved to extramural grants and contracts review in 1980. Most of her NIH career has been with the extramural review of grant and contract applications. She started as a fellowship clerk, became a Grants Technical Assistant, moved to a Lead Grants Technical Assistant position, and currently is serving as the Extramural Review Coordinator in OEA. As the Extramural Review Coordinator, Pam has supported the Institute's Advisory Council as well as the Institute's receipt and referral functions. She has worked closely with the Director, OEA as well as NIDA senior staff and she has been a source of information and advice for all NIDA, as well as the scientific community, answering questions and providing guidance about all aspects of extramural policy and procedures. Pam will be fondly remembered and greatly missed for her comprehensive knowledge of NIDA's program, review and grants management functions, for her competence and good humor, for her assistance throughout times of dramatic change in extramural policy and procedures and for her dedication to the mission of NIDA and the NIH.