NIH 9-Hole Golf League Recruits

The NIH 9-Hole Golf League is seeking members for the 2008 season. The league provides a way to enjoy golf on a regular basis without needing to arrange foursomes or wait for tee times. It features two flights of mildly competitive, handicapped-match play and one non-competitive flight. The season starts the first week of May and continues through September. Play is after work on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays. An optional member/guest fall golf outing and a banquet take place in early October. The league has a block of reserved tee times (generally 4:15-6 p.m.) at Needwood Golf Course in Rockville (Tuesdays) and at Northwest Park Golf Course in Silver Spring (Thursdays). Members decide where and when to play by turning in preferences to their flight captain and the league treasurer a few weeks in advance. The league is open only to R&W members (who may be non-employees). Players registering in March get an early-bird discount. Membership is limited to the first 84 registrants. For more information, go to the league’s web site at www.recgov.org/golf or email John Hamill at jhamill@mail.nih.gov.

FAES Bookstore Has Books Galore

The Foundation Bookstore, located in Bldg. 10, Rm. B1-L-101, is available to all NIH employees and guests. It carries fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks and children’s books. Any book currently in print can be ordered. And for all you immunologists out there, the new edition of Paul’s Fundamental Immunology, 6/E will be out on May 15.

Visiting Fellows Hold Opportunities Expo

The NIH visiting fellows committee invites all NIH fellows to participate in the 5th International Opportunities Expo on Thursday, May 15 at the Natcher Conference Center from noon to 4 p.m.

The expo provides an opportunity for fellows to obtain information on research, grants and job opportunities available overseas and in their respective home countries. NIHVFC has invited 38 embassies and 12 companies to the expo. Fellows will be able to network with science and technology representatives and develop contacts for the next step in their scientific careers.

Before the expo, a plenary lecture will be held in Natcher Auditorium from 11 a.m. to noon. The guest speaker is Dr. Steven Buchsbaum, senior technology strategy officer for global health discoveries at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Lunch will be available for the first 350 registered participants. For more information visit http://felcom.od.nih.gov/subcommittee/vfc/index.aspx.

New Orientation Program Set for Admin Hires

The NIH human capital group recently launched an introductory program for all new administrative NIH hires that will accompany the entry-on-duty orientation. “Fall in Love with NIH” is a short afternoon program aimed at inspiring pride in employees’ jobs from their very first day.

Successfully piloted within the human capital group in 2006 and 2007, the program was first developed to orient new HCG staff to NIH and help workers connect to the NIH mission. Collaboration has been a key feature of the program’s development. Participants included institute, center and OD senior leaders, including executive officers. The program runs every 2 weeks.

According to HCG, one of the keys to retention at NIH is bonding to the mission. “Fall in Love with NIH” builds that bond and provides a deeper insight into the scientific work that non-scientific staff support. Program participants include most non-scientific new hires; Clinical Center staff and temporary/student hires are excluded. Pending results of this program, HCG will explore the possibility of including scientific staff and contractors. The initial target audience is administrative employees who may be the least connected with the scientific process.

The agenda includes several presentations:

1-1:20 p.m. 100+ Years of NIH Contribution. A brief overview of NIH featuring exploration of specific discoveries and contributions.

1:20-1:50 p.m. The Work We Do. A scientific speaker discusses his/her research within the framework of its public impact and how administrative employees support such work; 26 speakers will be featured per year.

1:50-2:30 p.m. Tour: NIH Close-up. A walking tour of the Clinical Center.

STEP Forum on ‘Diagnosis in the 21st Century’ The staff training in extramural programs (STEP) committee will present a Science in the Public Health forum on the topic, “Diagnosis in the 21st Century: Know Today or No Tomorrow,” on Tuesday, Apr. 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Lister Hill Auditorium, Bldg. 38A. Genomics and associated technologies are changing the field of clinical diagnosis. Infectious diseases can be diagnosed rapidly and accurately using array technologies. Cancers can potentially be diagnosed early by detecting specific biomarkers in blood. Metabolomics can be used to evaluate overall health status and to establish a personal baseline for any potential changes that may occur later when disease arises. With significant advances in various imaging modalities and the promise of even more advanced diagnostics in the future, the field appears unlimited. Learn the amazing technologies that are bringing diagnoses into the 21st century, the challenges to their development and what it takes to get the new technologies into practice.

FARE Abstract Competition for Fellows

The 15th annual Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE) 2009 competition will again provide recognition for outstanding scientific research performed by intramural postdoctoral fellows. FARE winners will each receive a $1,000 travel award to use for attending and presenting their work at a scientific meeting. Twenty five percent of the fellows who apply will win an award.

FARE applicants must submit an abstract of their research, which will be evaluated anonymously on scientific merit, originality, experimental design and overall quality/presentation. The travel award must be used between Oct. 1, 2008, and Sept. 30, 2009.

The FARE 2009 competition is open to postdoctoral IRTAs, visiting fellows and other fellows with fewer than 5 years total postdoctoral experience in the NIH intramural research program. In addition, pre-IRTAs performing their doctoral dissertation research at NIH are also eligible to compete. Visiting fellows/ scientists must not have been tenured at their home institute. Questions about eligibility should be addressed to your institute’s scientific director. Fellows should submit their application (including abstract) electronically now through Apr. 14 via http://felcom.od.nih.gov/subcommittee/fare.aspx. Winners will be announced by the end of September 2008. More information is available on the web site above. If you have questions, contact one of your institute’s FelCom representatives at http://felcom.od.nih.gov/members.aspx.

Workshop on Clinical Research Networks NCRR is hosting Clinical Research Networks: Building the Foundation for Health Care Transformation, a workshop on Thursday, May 8 from 8:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Natcher Auditorium. It will provide an opportunity for experts to present key accomplishments of the Clinical Research Networks Program and provide a venue for the research community to critically review and discuss how these accomplishments can be used to advance clinical and translational research. Speakers include NIH director Dr. Elias Zerhouni, NCRR director Dr. Barbara Alving and Isaac Kohane, Harvard Medical School informatics program chair. The Clinical Research Networks Program, an NIH Roadmap for Medical Research Initiative, is a series of far-reaching projects designed to transform the nation’s medical research capabilities and speed the movement of research discoveries from the bench to the bedside. The upcoming workshop includes case studies, demonstrations and posters. The workshop is free and open to the public. Registration is requested by Apr. 28. To register, visit www.ncrr.nih.gov/UPenn.asp. Individuals who need sign language interpreters and/or reasonable accommodation to participate should contact the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 at least 5 days before the event.