Staff Highlights

Jaylan Turkkan, Ph.D., Chief of the Behavioral Sciences Research Branch, was elected to the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research in June.

The College on Problems of Drug Dependence presented the J. Michael Morrison Award to
Dr. Jack D. Blaine, Chief, Treatment Research Branch, Division of Clinical and Services Research, for outstanding contribution in the area of scientific administration, June 11, 1995.

Dr. Richard Needle, Chief, Community Research Branch, DEPR was a recipient of the 1995 Public Health Service Special Recognition Award. The award was given "for outstanding leadership and resourcefulness in advancing research on HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention among injecting drug users."

Nicholas Kozel, Associate Director, DEPR, was a recipient of the 1995 Public Health Service Recognition Award. The award was given for utilizing epidemiologic methods for community assessment of drug problems and in forming local, national, and international epidemiology networks.

Dr. Peter Hartsock was awarded a commendation by the National Science Foundation for his service, representing HHS, to the federal Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee.

Dr. Mario De La Rosa, received an award for outstanding contributions and dedication toward health concerns of the Latino community from the State of Ohio Commission on Minority Health.

Dr. Nora Chiang, MDD, Chemistry and Pharmaceutics Branch received the PHS Special Recognition Award for her work on the development of buprenorphine and buprenorphine combined with naloxone.

Dr. George Uhl, Acting Scientific Director has served on the National Neurologic Research Brain Bank Advisory Board and has been asked to serve on the Scientific Advisory Board for the American Parkinsons Disease Association.

Dr. Edythe D. London was promoted to the rank of Adjunct Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, School of Medicine, University of Maryland.

Jane B. Acri, Ph.D., NIDA DIR PPL/Psychobiology Section, was selected by the Division of Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse of the American Psychological Association to receive the Young Psychopharmacologist Award for 1995.

Mohammed Shoaib, Ph.D., NIDA DIR PPL/Behavioral Pharmacology and Genetics Section, won the Young Pharmacologist Prize presented by the British Association for Psychopharmacology, United Kingdom.
David A. Gorelick, M.D., Ph.D. was elected as an at-large member of the Executive Committee, Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (term begins Nov., 1995) and has been appointed as member of the Committee on Practice Guidelines, American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Richard Nelson, M.D. is the first NIDA recipient of an NIH AIDS loan repayment award and has been elected co-chair of the NIH Fellows Committee (June, 1995).

Lawrence Cheskin, M.D. has been re-elected to a 3-year term on the Board of Directors, American Cancer Society, Maryland Division.

Jeffrey M. Witkin was elected to the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Ms. Jacqueline Porter, Special Assistant to the Director, OEPR, received the PHS Special Recognition Award for Productivity.

Ms. Jennifer Nakamoto, MDD received the PHS Special Recognition award for outstanding administrative support efforts.

Cora Lee Wetherington, Ph.D., has been appointed NIDA's Women's Health Coordinator. She continues part time her responsibilities as Program Officer in the Behavioral Sciences Research Branch, Division of Basic Research. Dr. Wetherington is aided by Adele Roman, M.S.N.

Karen Skinner, Ph.D., has been named Deputy Director, Division of Basic Research. Dr. Skinner previously served as the Chief of the Biomedical Branch, DBR.

Kathleen Creedon, Ph.D. joined the Medications Development Division, Chemistry and Pharmaceutics Branch, in August. Prior to joining MDD, Dr. Creedon was employed by the FDA where she had 10 years of medication review experience.

Deborah Liederman, M.D. joined the Medications Development Division, Clinical Trials Branch, in August. Dr. Liederman is a board certified neurologist. Prior to coming to MDD, Dr. Liederman worked in CNS research at Parke-Davis. Prior to her experience at Parke-Davis, Dr. Liederman was employed by the National Institute on Neurological Diseases and Stroke, Epilepsy Branch, where she was actively involved in research and development of anti-convulsant medications.

Nancy Pilotte, Ph.D. joined the Medications Development Division, Pharmacology and Toxicology Branch, in August. Dr. Pilotte came to MDD from the NIDA Intramural Research Program where she was a staff fellow in the Neuroscience Research Branch.

Carolyn Mosher, M.P.A., joins the Science Policy Branch, OSPC as a program analyst. She recently complete a two-year Presidential Management Internship with the Office of the Director, NIH.

William C. Grace, Ph. D., joined the staff of OEPR as Scientific Review Administrator, Basic Behavioral Sciences Research Review Branch, in September. Prior to service in the Health Resources and Services Administration, Dr. Grace was a program official in NIDA.

Theresa Levitin, Ph.D., has been appointed Deputy Director, OEPR. She served as Scientific Review Administrator and NIDA's Referral Officer, Division of Research Grants, NIH. Dr. Levitin will join NIDA on or about October 1.

Dr. Alan Trachtenberg returns to the Science Policy Branch, OSPC, after completing his tenure as Acting Director of the Office of Alternative Medicine, NIH.

Ms. Jacqueline Downing, Office of Science Policy and Communication (OSPC), retired from Federal service on June 30.

Mary Catherine (Kate) McGuire, Chief, Clinical, Epidemiological and Applied Sciences Review Branch, retired from Federal service, June 30.

Capt. Daniel L. Mintz, Scientific Review Administrator of the Clinical and Behavioral Research Review Committee, retired from the USPHS Commissioned Corp, August 31. Mr. Mintz received the Public Health Service Commendation Medal at his retirement ceremony.

Ms. Katherine E. Lenehan, Chief of NIDA's Executive Secretariat within the Office of the Director retired from Federal Service on June 30.

Ms. Vivianne Baskins of NIDA's Executive Secretariat retired from Federal service on June 30.

Ms. Carolyn Fisher, Grants Technical Assistant, Clinical and Behavioral Research Review Committee, retired from Federal service June 30.

Ms. Penny Paxton of the Planning and Financial Management Branch, OPRM, retired from Federal service on June 30.

Grantee Honors

Peter Bentler was named recipient of the first Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from the Division of Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics of the American Psychological Association. Description of the award in The Score Newsletter (July 1995) cites Dr. Bentler's research on methodology and structural equation modeling.

Suniya Luthar of the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, received the American Mensa Education and Research Foundation Award for excellence in research on intelligence and intellectural giftedness. Dr. Luthar holds a career development award from NIDA and is co-investigator on several research studies focusing on the genetic epidemiology and the developmental etiology and consequences of drug abuse.

Thomas Wills was elected to Fellow status in Division 8 (Social Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, effective August 1995.

Terence P. Thornberry was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology.

Linn Goldberg of Oregon Health Sciences University has developed and tested anabolic steroid education methods that have been cited and recommended in the 1995 publication "Athletic Drug Reference" approved by the NCAA and USOC.

Harvey Siegal, Principal Investigator for the Dayton/Columbus, Ohio site of the Cooperative Agreement for AIDS Community-Based Outreach/Intervention Research Program, was selected for the award of University Professor of Medicine at Wright State University, for the period July 1, 1995 through June 30, 2000.

Robert T. Trotter, Principal Investigator for the Flagstaff, Arizona site of the Cooperative Agreement for AIDS Outreach/Intervention Research Program, was selected in July for the permanent award of Regents Professor of Anthropology at Northern Arizona University.

The Student Award for Research Training Program (START) in the Department of Psychology at UCLA (Dr. Peter Bentler, PI) places outstanding minority students into research laboratories to introduce them to real-life research activities. For the school year that ended in June, 1995, 16 students received partial stipends. A START student, David Garcia, investigated gender differences in attitudes about condom use among Anglo and Hispanic students and was invited to present his results at the Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference held at UCLA in May, 1995.