Three Join the Center for Scientific Review

Dr. Malgorzata M. Klosek has joined the Center for Scientific Review as a scientific review administrator for the new modeling and analysis of biological systems study section, which reviews grant applications that are heavily focused on mathematical and computational techniques applied to biology and medicine. She received her Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Northwestern University and was previously an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Just prior to joining CSR, she spent 2 years at the NCI Laboratory of Experimental and Computational Biology. She has published research articles on proteomics, ion channel currents, chemical kinetics, statistical physics, mathematical finance and stochastic differential equations.

Dr. André J. Premen recently joined CSR as an assistant director in the Division of Receipt and Referral. He previously directed a cardiovascular aging program at NIA. He also has served as a scientific review administrator at NHLBI and as a program officer at NIAMS. He is a graduate of the NIH Grants Associates Program. After receiving his Ph.D. in physiology from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Premen had postdoctoral training in the department of physiology and biophysics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the department of physiology at the University of South Alabama. He then returned to USUHS, where he was an assistant professor in physiology, conducting NIH-sponsored research on hormonal control of circulation.

Dr. Rajiv Kumar has joined the Center for Scientific Review as scientific review administrator of the electrical signaling, ion transport and arrhythmias study section. This review group considers grant proposals on the occurrence, cause and treatment of cardiac and vascular electrical and electromechanical dysfunction, arrhythmias and sudden death. Kumar earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Kanpur University, India, where he studied the cholinergic regulation of cardiac contractility. He joined Emory University Medical School as a postdoctoral research associate to study postnatal developmental changes in regulation of L-type calcium current. He was an assistant professor in the Children's Research Center and research director of the Todd Franklin Cardiac Research Laboratory at the department of pediatrics, Emory University.

Chu To Head NCI Branch

Dr. Kenneth Chu has been appointed chief, Disparities Research Branch, Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, NCI. He joined NIH in 1973 as a staff fellow, doing artificial intelligence research in the Division of Computer Research and Technology. In the late 1970's he joined NCI's Carcinogen Bioassay Program, where he studied the cancer-causing effects of chemicals on rodents. In 1981, he continued his research at the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, on carcinogens. During the 1980's, Chu returned to NCI to work on the early detection of cancer. In 1995, he joined NCI's Special Populations Research Branch and began to study health disparities in racial groups. Chu is the coauthor of more than 250 publications.

Four Join NICHD Advisory Council

Four new appointments have been made to the National Advisory Child Health and Human Development Council. The new members are: Dr. Jacquelynne Eccles, professor, department of psychology, University of Michigan; Dr. David R. McClay, professor, department of biology, Duke University; Dr. Alan H. Jobe, professor, department of pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati; and Lenore Zedosky, West Virginia department of education (retired).

Eccles is a highly experienced investigator specializing in developmental and social psychology of middle childhood and adolescence. She has published widely on children's competence, academic functioning, and mental health, and on the influence of psychological, social and environmental factors on these outcomes.

Jobe is a leading investigator in neonatal-perinatal medicine. His research interests focus on translational research using animal models of fetal development, prematurity and lung injury.

McClay is a renowned developmental biologist; most of his work has focused on the sea urchin model. He is the program director of a program project grant on neural tube development that is part of NICHD's birth defects initiative.

Zedosky has worked in the field of nursing education for more than 30 years. She is retired from the West Virginia department of education, where she served as executive director of the Office of Healthy Schools.

NICHD director Dr. Duane Alexander (l) and NICHD deputy director Dr. Yvonne Maddox (r) welcome new council members. They are (from l) Dr. David R. McClay, Lenore Zedosky, Dr. Alan Jobe and Dr. Jacquelynne Eccles.