National Institute on Drug Abuse
Director's Report to the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse
February, 1997
Staff Highlights
Staff Changes
In December 1996, Robin I. Kawazoe, Deputy Director, OSPC, began
a detail to the NIH Office of the Director, Office of Science Policy. Among
the issues Robin will be working on are health services research and managed
care, as well as planning, policy coordination, and intergovernmental affairs.
This detail is a wonderful opportunity for Robin to gain a broad perspective
of science policy and planning across NIH as well as to represent NIH to
the Department and in other forums.
Bennett W. Fletcher, Ph.D. was appointed Chief of the Services Research
Branch, Division of Clinical and Services Research.
Susan Y. Azeka, M.S.W., joined OSPC in August as NIDA's Planning
and Evaluation Officer. Prior to joining NIDA, she was a licensed social
worker with a geriatric mental health treatment program in DC.
Shayna Steinger, M.I.A., joined OSPC in September from the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration. She is a graduate of the Presidential
Management Internship program and will serve as Special Assistant to the
Director, OSPC.
Monica Jones, formerly of DRG/NIH, joined NIDA in September as a
Program Assistant.
Jane Smither Holland joined the OSPC staff in October as a Program
Analyst. She will act as Constituent Relations coordinator and will assist
in Congressional affairs activities. She is a former Aide to Congressman
E. (Kika) de la Garza of Texas who retired at the end of the 104th Congress.
Beverly Wyckoff Jackson joined NIDA as the Chief of the Public Information
Branch, OSPC, in November. She has been in the health and science communications
business for many years, having headed up the public affairs departments
of Children's National Medical Center and the American Psychological Association,
in addition to founding a public relations firm specializing in social science
and health issues. Most recently she helped develop the public information
program for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
Lucinda L. Miner, Ph.D., joined OSPC in November as Deputy Research
Training Coordinator. Prior to joining the Science Policy Branch, Dr. Miner
was the Acting Chief of the Molecular Genetics Section of NIDA's Intramural
Research Program. Dr. Miner received a Ph.D. in Psychology with a specialty
in Behavioral Genetics in 1986 from the University of Colorado and conducted
postdoctoral work in the Molecular Neurobiology and Genetics Program at
the University of Pittsburgh before coming to NIDA in 1992.
John Boren, Ph.D., retired from Federal service effective November
23, 1996. He was recently Program Officer in the Treatment Research Branch,
DCSR, and formerly Chief, Clinical and Behavioral Pharmacology Branch, DBR/DCR.
Yng-shiuh Sheu Ph.D. retired from Federal service effective January
4, 1997. Dr. Sheu worked at NIDA for seventeen years as a pharmacologist
responsible for reviewing the abuse liability of psychoactive drugs. He
frequently served as an advisor to the World Health Organization in assessing
the abuse liability of selected psychoactive drugs.
Richard Sackett, Public Information Branch, OSPC retired from Federal
service on December 31, 1996 after 20 years at NIDA.
Staff Honors and Awards
NIDA Director's Awards
John Hamill, OPRM (EEO Award)
Nikki Zangwill, OPRM
Information Resources Management Branch, OPRM:
Linda Katzper
Constance Latsko
Marguerite Lewis
Tina McDonald-Bennett
Joseph Reckley
Dan Tick
Mona Brown, OSPC (EEO Award)
Robin Kawazoe, OSPC
Patricia Thomas, OSPC
Niki Turner, OSPC
Bennett Fletcher, Ph.D., DCSR (Commissioned Officer Award)
Women's Interagency HIV Study Group:
Katherine Davenny, M.P.H., DCSR
Vincent Smerglio, Ph.D., DCSR
Coryl Jones, Ph.D., DEPR (30 year service)
Nicholas Kozel, DEPR (30 year service)
Melanie Pickett, DEPR
Fay Polcak, IRP (30 year service)
C. Jamie Biswas, Ph.D., MDD
Minority Recruitment and Training Program Staff:
Mary Affeldt, Administrative Services Branch, IRP
Brain Alston, Neuroscience Branch, IRP
Micha Brown, Administrative Services, IRP
Lula Beatty, Special Populations Office, OD
Jean Lud Cadet, Ph.D., Neuroscience Branch, IRP
Beverly Cepl, Clinical Pharmacology Branch, IRP
Lena Eads, Administrative Services, IRP
Stephen Heishman, Ph.D., Clinical Pharmacology Branch, IRP
Jack Henningfield
Angela McLeod, Neuroscience Branch, IRP
Richard Millstein, OD
Fay Polcak, Administrative Services Branch, IRP
Kathleen Wilson, Administrative Services Branch, IRP
NIDA EEO Advisory Committee: (EEO Group Award)
Mona Brown, Public Information Branch, OSPC
Paul Coulis, Ph.D., Clinical Medicine Branch, DCSR
Carol Cushing, Regulatory Affairs Branch, MDD
Anne Gupman, Molecular Neurobiology Branch, DIR
Rick Harrison, Contracts Review Branch, OEPR
Arthur Horton, Ph.D., Etiology and Clinical Neurobiology Branch, DCSR
Davey Jones, Management Analysis and Services Branch, OPRM
Jagitsing Khalsa, Ph.D., Clinical Medicine Branch, DCSR
Theresa Kopajtic, Molecular Neurobiology Branch, DIR
Arnold Mills, Community Research Branch, DEPR
Rao Rapaka, Ph.D., Basic Neurobiology and Biological Systems Res. Branch,
DBR
Nancy Soulen, J.D., Science Policy Branch, OSPC
Jewell Webb, Program and Financial Management Branch, OPRM
Nikki Zangwill, Contracts Management Branch, OPRM
Conference on Drug Abuse Steering Committee
Lula Beatty, Ph.D., Special Populations Office, OD
Tim Condon, Ph.D., OD, OSPC
James Colliver, Ph.D., Epidemiology Research Branch, DEPR
Meyer Glantz, Ph.D., OD, DEPR
Harold Gordon, Ph.D., Etiology and Clinical Neurobiology Branch, DCSR
Stephen Heishman, Ph.D., Clinical Pharmacology Branch, DIR
Arthur Horton, Ph.D., Etiology and Clinical Neurobiology Branch, DCSR
Teri Levitin, Ph.D., OD, OEPR
Robin Macker, M.P.H., Science Policy Branch, OSPC
Carolyn Mosher, M.P.A., Science Policy Branch, OSPC
Joan Nolan, Public Information Branch, OSPC
Lisa Onken, Ph.D., Treatment Research Branch, DCSR
Elizabeth Rahdert, Ph.D., Treatment Research Branch, DCSR
David Shurtleff, Ph.D., Behavioral Sciences Research Branch, DBR
Jaylan Turkkan, Ph.D., Behavioral Sciences Research Branch, DBR
Other Awards
Peter Cohen, M.D., J.D., MDD was awarded first prize (Surgery) in
the British Medical Association Medical Book Competition, November 26, 1996.
Dr. Cohen and his co-author Dr. Thomas E.J. Healy shared this honor for
their book entitled Wylie and Churchill- Davidson's A Practice of Anaesthesia,
Sixth Edition.
Mario R. De La Rosa, Ph.D., SPO, was featured in the American Association
for the Advancement of Science publication entitled "Making a Difference:
Minorities in Substance Abuse" as one of twenty-one minority scientists
in the United States who have made significant contributions to the substance
abuse field.
Meyer D. Glantz, Ph.D. Associate Director for Science, DEPR, has
been elected as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
Arthur MacNeill Horton, Ph.D., DCSR, was presented with a Recognition
Award "For Your Commitment Toward Development of Substance Abuse Research
on Underserved Populations", on October 10, 1996 by the Program Committee
of the Fourth Annual Conference on Psychopathology, Psychopharmacology,
Substance Abuse, and Culture in Los Angeles, California.
Sari Izenwasser, Ph.D., IRP, received a travel award from the International
Narcotics Research Conference to attend its annual meeting.
Edythe London, Ph.D., IRP, received the Dean's Recognition Award
for Outstanding Alumni of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences,
Towson State University, Towson, MD, November 1966.
Richard H. Needle, Ph.D., M.P.H., Chief of the Community Research
Branch, DEPR, received the 1996 award from the American Anthropological
Association's Commission on AIDS Research and Prevention. The award is for
"outstanding leadership, vision, and commitment in supporting and significantly
furthering anthropological research on substance abuse and AIDS."
Jaylan S. Turkkan, Ph.D., was elected as Fellow of the American Psychological
Society.
Cora Lee Wetherington, Ph.D., was elected Fellow of Division 28,
Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse, of the American Psychological Association.
Grantee Honors
Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology
at the University of Vermont and NIDA grantee, has won the 1996 Dan Anderson
Research Award. The award, sponsored by the Butler Center for Research and
Learning at Hazelden, recognizes the distinguished contribution of a researcher
who has advanced the scientific knowledge of addiction recovery. Dr. Higgins'
work has concentrated on improving treatment approaches to cocaine addiction.
Robert G. Carlson, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Wright State University
School of Medicine, was awarded the Steven Polgar Award for "state
of the art excellence" in Medical Anthropology by the Society for Medical
Anthropology, at the American Anthropological Association's 95th annual
meeting in San Francisco. The award was presented to Dr. Carlson in recognition
of his outstanding article, "The Political Economy of AIDS Among
Drug Users in the United States: Beyond Blaming the Victim or Powerful Others,"
published in American Anthropologist, 98(2): pp. 266-278, 1995.
Three NIDA investigators -- Dennis McCarty, Richard Frank,
and Constance Weisner, served as members of the Institute of Medicine's
Committee on Quality Assurance and Accreditation Guidelines for Managed
Behavioral Health Care. IOM's report, Managing Managed Care: Quality
Improvement in Behavioral Health, was published in November 1996. Drs.
McCarty and Weisner were also co-editors (with others) of the report, which
sought to develop a framework to guide the development, use, and evaluation
of performance indicators, accreditation standards, and quality improvement
mechanisms. Thomas McLellan, Director of the Drug Abuse Treatment
Evaluation Center, co-authored a Commission paper: "Can the Outcome
Research Literature Inform the Search for Quality Indicators in Substance
Abuse Treatment?"
Dr. Murray Goodman, a NIDA grantee and professor, Department of Chemistry,
University of California, San Diego, was selected as the recipient of the
Ralph F. Hirschman Award in Peptide Chemistry sponsored by Merck Research
Laboratories. The award will be presented at the 213th ACS National Meeting
in San Francisco, CA. Dr. Goodman, over many years, designed and synthesized
novel hormones, opioids, antibiotics and neurotransmitters. Under his NIDA
grant Dr. Goodman synthesized a number of novel opioid peptides and the
molecules were analyzed by spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and computer
simulations. He proposed structure-bioactivity relationships for a series
of opioid peptides and peptidomimetics.
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