The National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases

NIDDK Director's Update (June 22, 2007)

Griffin P. Rodgers Appointed Director of the NIDDK

Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced the appointment of Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., as director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), effective April 1, 2007. As the new director of the NIDDK, Dr. Rodgers will oversee an annual budget of $1.8 billion and a staff of 650 scientists, physician-scientists, and administrators.

More information is available on the NIH News page:
www.nih.gov/news/pr/apr2007/niddk-02.htm

Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., Brief Biography:
www2.niddk.nih.gov/AboutNIDDK/Director/Biography.htm

FY 2008 Presidential Budget Theme Hearings
Dr. Rodgers appeared as a witness before the Senate Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations on the topic of “Burden of Chronic Diseases” on April 20, 2007. His written testimony is available on the NIH Office of Budget web page:
officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/ui/themeHearings.htm

FY 2007 Joint Resolution
The Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007 was passed into law on February 15, 2007. A copy of Public Law 110-5 is available on the NIH Office of Budget web page:
officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/PDF/FY%2007%20Appropriations%20Language.pdf

More information about the NIH budget is available on the NIH Office of Budget web page: officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/ui/HomePage.htm

More information about the NIDDK Extramural Funding Policy is available on the NIDDK web site:
www2.niddk.nih.gov/Funding/Grants/FundingPolicy.htm

Dr. Rodgers has initiated a national search for the position of Deputy Director of the Institute by convening a search committee and advertising the position widely. The incumbent will work directly with the NIDDK Director on strategic planning, implementation, evaluation and policy development, and will serve as a liaison to the other NIH Institutes, Federal agencies, and the diverse public and private sector constituencies of the Institute. Applicants must possess an M.D., Ph.D., or equivalent degree, as well as senior-level research experience or knowledge of research programs in one or more of the following disease areas: diabetes, endocrinology, and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases and nutrition; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases. Application packages must include a Curriculum Vitae, Bibliography, and two letters of recommendation and must be received by July 2, 2007.

More information about the position is available from the NIDDK Office of Workforce Development and Planning at phone number 301-594-7772. The position announcement is available on USAJOBS, the official job site of the United States Federal Government, at www.usajobs.gov/ under job announcement number NIDDK-07-186852.

Roadmap 1.5 Update
Through the summer and fall of 2006, NIH solicited ideas for new NIH Roadmap initiatives from scientific communities within and outside of NIH, patient advocates, and the general public to help senior NIH staff identify cross-cutting challenges in biomedical research that meet special criteria established for Common Fund Roadmap initiatives. The idea selection process for a new cohort of Roadmap initiatives has concluded and four topics were chosen to move forward as Major Roadmap Initiatives: the Microbiome, Epigenetics, Protein Capture Tools, and Phenotyping Services/Tools. Two of these, the Microbiome and Epigenetics Programs, were approved for immediate implementation as five-year programs. The Protein Capture Tools and Phenotyping Services/Tools Programs were approved for staged implementation. More information is available on the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research web page:
nihroadmap.nih.gov/roadmap15update.asp

Find the current Requests for Applications (RFAs) and Program Announcements (PAs) that communicate NIDDK’s current funding opportunities and research interests on the NIDDK website:
www2.niddk.nih.gov/Funding/FundingOpportunities/

Find current NIDDK Notices in the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts on the NIDDK website:
www2.niddk.nih.gov/Funding/FundingOpportunities/Notices

NIDDK supports and participates in scientific meetings and workshops throughout the country and around the world. A listing of upcoming meetings and workshops is available on the NIDDK website: www.niddk.nih.gov/fund/other/conferences.htm

“NIH Establishes Working Groups to Examine Peer Review”
NIH Office of the Director (OD)
Release Date: June 8, 2007
www.nih.gov/news/pr/jun2007/od-08.htm

“Mouse Model Points to Possible New Strategy for Treating Rare Muscle Disease, Kidney Disorders”
Researchers Surprised by Clues Uncovered in Transgenic Mice
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
Release Date: June 1, 2007
www.nih.gov/news/pr/jun2007/nhgri-01.htm

“Sling Surgery is More Effective than Burch for Bladder Control in Women”
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Release Date: May 21, 2007
www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2007/niddk-21.htm

“In Memoriam, Stephen E. Straus, M.D., First Director of NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Internationally Recognized Physician-Scientist”
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Release Date: May 15, 2007
www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2007/nccam-15a.htm

“Urologic Diseases Cost Americans $11 Billion a Year”
Medicare Pays Half
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Release Date: May 1, 2007
www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2007/niddk-01.htm

“Researchers Identify New Genetic Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes”
Landmark Study Shows at Least 10 Genetic Variants Are Associated With Adult Onset Diabetes
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Release Date: April 26, 2007
www.nih.gov/news/pr/apr2007/nhgri-26.htm

“NIH Launches We Can! City Program – Sound Bend ad Gary, Indiana, and Roswell, Georgia, Are First To Be Named We Can! Cities Committed to Nationwide Effort to Prevent Childhood Overweight”
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Release Date: April 25, 2007
www.nih.gov/news/pr/apr2007/nhlbi-25.htm

“NIH Launches Study to Assess Bariatric Surgery in Adolescents”
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Release Date: April 16, 2007
www.nih.gov/news/pr/apr2007/niddk-16.htm

“Barbara Alving Named Director of NIH’s National Center for Research Resources
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)”
Release Date: April 2, 2007
www.nih.gov/news/pr/apr2007/ncrr-02.htm

Four NIDDK grantees were recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Mary Estes, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Virology and Microbiology and Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, is a leader in the field of virology and has produced ground-breaking work in he understanding and prevention of gastrointestinal viruses, such as Norwalk and rotovirus. Her research has been supported by NIDDK since 1986.

Pamela Fraker, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University, is a leader in the field of nutritional immunology, particularly focusing on cellular and molecular aspects of the impact of dietary zinc on the immune response. Her research has been supported by the NIDDK for 30 years.

Gerald Shulman, M.D., Ph.D., is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale School of Medicine. His primary research focus is metabolic mechanisms of insulin resistance in human subjects using noninvasive NMR imaging and spectroscopy. His research has been supported by the NIDDK since 1986.

Cliff Tabin, Ph.D., Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Adjunct Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studies the genetic basis of vertebrate development, focusing on the signaling pathways regulating morphogenesis of the vertebrate skeleton. His research has been supported by the NIDDK since 1999.

Also elected to most recent class of the NAS is a former NIDDK intramural program researcher, Angela Gronenborn, Ph.D., who served as chief of the Structural Biology Section in the Laboratory of Chemical Physics at NIDDK before joining the University of Pittsburgh in 2005. Currently Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the Structural Biology Program at the University of Pittsburgh, she combines NMR spectroscopy with biophysics, biochemistry, and chemistry to investigate cellular processes at the molecular and atomic levels in relation to human disease.

Two NIDDK Advisory Council members recently received awards from the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). Current NIDDK Advisory Council member James Freston, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine Emeritus and Boehringer Ingelheim Chair of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Connecticut Health Center, recently received the AGA’s Julius Friedenwald Metal. This award was established in 1941 to recognize an individual who has made lifelong contributions to the field of gastroenterology and is the highest honor the AGA bestows on a member. The AGA also recently honored former NIDDK Advisory Council member, Daniel Podolsky, M.D., the Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, with its Distinguished Achievement Award for accomplishments in clinical or basic research in gastroenterology. Dr. Podolsky has made many contributions to the field of gastroenterology through the study of epithelial biology and mucosal immune defense. His work has advanced understanding of the mechanisms of mucosal injury, healing, and repair in the context of a range of gastrointestinal disorders, providing insights into pathophysiology and therapy of inflammatory bowel disease.

NIDDK recently launched an initiative to establish an Emergency Preparedness and Continuity of Operations Planning (EM/COOP) plan for the Institute. The plan will be used to protect and support NIDDK’s employees and patients, as well as ensure that the organization’s key essential functions remain operational in the event of an emergency situation. The initiative, led by NIDDK’s Office of Management and Policy Analysis (OMPA), involves the creation of five COOP functional teams consisting of 47 members from across the Institute, including members from the Phoenix Epidemiology and Clinical Research Branch in Arizona.

Ms. Dee Doherty recently joined the Grants Management Branch at NIDDK as a Senior Grants Management Specialist.

I look forward to continued interaction with those of you who have an interest in the programs of NIDDK

Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D.
Director, NIDDK

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