Photo: Melba McGlamary

Burton is a 2006 graduate of the HHS Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program, where she led several enterprise architecture initiatives at the Office of Management and Budget. For the past 8 months, she has served as acting deputy CIO (chief information officer) for the Indian Health Service. During her tenure there, she managed IHS’s award-winning Electronic Health Record, IT infrastructure, information security, IT strategic planning, capital planning and investment control and the National Data Warehouse.

Burton joined CIT in 2001 as deputy director of the Division of Network Systems and Telecommunications, where she advanced NIH’s network, security, video, telecommunications and cabling programs. She began her federal career in 1988 at the Internal Revenue Service, where she served as a computer systems programmer for major tax-processing systems and transformed IRS’s network communication systems. In 1996, she transferred to the Department of Justice where she served as branch chief of the Network Service Center and consolidated DOJ’s 14 networks into one.

Tosten comes to FIC from the National Institute of Mental Health, where he was associate director for administration in the Division of Intramural Research Programs. In addition, he was co-chair of the NIH intramural administrative officers group.

He came to NIH as a presidential management intern in 1993 for the Office of Research Services. He spent 12 years at ORS, where he worked in varying areas, including managing the child care programs and food services contracts and the NIH travel contract. He also initiated the first-ever NIH-wide sign language interpreting services contract. He oversaw construction of the East Child Care Center and the Bldg. 35 cafeteria, renovation of Bldg. 10’s B1 cafeteria and expansion of the child care center on Executive Blvd.

Dr. Robin Barr has been named director of the Office of Extramural Activities (OEA) at NIA. He will oversee the institute’s Scientific Review Office, National Advisory Council on Aging and Grants and Contracts Management Office. Most recently he served as deputy director of OEA and as NIA training officer since 1994, following his work as program administrator for cognitive functioning and aging in NIA’s Behavioral and Social Research Program.

Dr. Leon Ellwein (l) joins NEI director Dr. Paul Sieving after a seminar on NEI international activities.

NEI director Dr. Paul Sieving introduced Ellwein, thanked him for his many years of productive service to NEI and the vision community and detailed the importance of his work in furthering awareness of the “international context of vision needs.” Ellwein had a number of major successes in facilitating research collaborations and visual impairment studies in numerous countries.

Sieving emphasized two achievements, both in 2005: the signing of the agreement between the United States and India to collaborate on expansion of vision research and Ellwein’s receipt of the International Golden Award from the Chinese Ophthalmological Society for facilitating academic exchanges between U.S. and Chinese vision researchers and for making major contributions to eye disease epidemiology and prevention of blindness in China.

Ellwein discussed the global disease burden, as described in The World Health Report 2003, produced by the World Health Organization. NEI has collaborated with WHO on the global burden of eye disease since 1979 and Ellwein began his involvement in 1993. In the report, eye disorders are ranked ninth in global disease burden, after diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and birth-related health conditions. However, Ellwein explained that if refractive errors (such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia, or aging eye) are included, eye disorders would rank fourth.

He described NEI’s ongoing collaborations with WHO and participating countries to help them build capacity to deliver eye care services to those in need. This involves assessment of the types and prevalence of visual impairment, the establishment of programs to reduce health care disparities and the delivery of eye-care services in rural and urban settings. In addition to India and China, Ellwein also has worked closely with researchers, nonprofit organizations and government officials in Mali, Nepal, Peru, Chile, South Africa, Malaysia and Brazil.

Beginning with a clinical trial comparing two types of cataract surgery in India from 1993 to 1996, NEI in collaboration with WHO has contributed more than $7 million for trials since 1979. Nearly $2 million more will be added to the total for the period 2007 to 2011.

However, Ellwein emphasized that the collaborators in these countries have done most of the work. “The high quality and timeliness of their field work, their openness to sharing data and their commitment to international communication has made all the difference,” he said. “The studies are theirs, not ours. We simply made them possible with our technical assistance and financial support.”

For the future, Ellwein sees collaborative research agreements being negotiated with other countries such as China. “They are interested, and have several institutions highly qualified to do the work,” he said.

She supported and conducted groundbreaking research that eventually led to the identification and treatment of HIV/AIDS. At a time when nurse researchers were uncommon, Baird cared for terminally ill patients, collected and stored biologic specimens, gathered and processed data, coauthored scientific papers and traveled around the country teaching other nurses how to care for AIDS patients. She was a pioneer in developing the role of study coordinator and case manager.

Originally from Charleroi, Pa., Baird later settled in the Washington area to raise her family. She graduated from George Mason University with a bachelor of science in nursing in 1979 and earned a master of arts in communication from the University of Oklahoma in 1994. She came to NIH in March 1981 after hearing from a patient how impressed he was with the care and research conducted at the CC. Baird started as a staff nurse on OP11 East, the unit for patients with immune disorders and infectious diseases.

In NIH’s oral history project, “In Their Own Words: NIH Researchers Recall the Early Days of AIDS,” Baird described the challenges of treating patients with unexplained immune dysfunction starting in the winter of 1981, including helping physicians develop infectious disease guidelines and managing the “overwhelming” fear of some staff without stigmatizing or isolating patients any more than they already were.

According to Baird, she “just fell into” her work with HIV/AIDS, saying it “offered an opportunity at a particular time. I was right there and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to learn about a new disease.”

She described encountering suspicion and stigma for her vocation, “like I wore a big letter ‘A’.” She remembered the response when she described her work with AIDS research to a neighbor who welcomed her after a move. “I thought she was going to kick me out of the neighborhood. She said, ‘I’m surprised you even tell anybody about it.’ About the same time, or maybe shortly before that, my dentist and my doctor wrote on my chart, ‘Works with AIDS patients.’”

Despite her precautions, Baird experienced several needle sticks, including one from the first AIDS patient at NIH. “I was used as the index case to show that hepatitis is more infectious than AIDS,” Baird said in 1993, noting that despite a subclinical hepatitis case and elevated liver enzymes, her HIV status remained negative. “None of those needle sticks would happen today because of the safety measures that have been instituted. All of the precautions I was using were adapted as the protocol for these patients with AIDS. I did not know that I was protecting myself against HIV because we did not know then that AIDS was caused by a virus.”

Bill Barrick, former head nurse of the HIV clinic, recalls that Baird was a pioneer in the role of nurses as study coordinators and data managers and showed how traditional nursing knowledge and aptitude were essential to developing a professional role for nurses in clinical research.

Dr. Henry Masur, chief of the CC critical care medicine department, called Baird “a positive part of NIH history” who “took many young men under her wing in an era when few others would.”

Senora Mitchell, an administrative assistant in the HIV clinic on OP8, remembers Baird as an avid tap dancer and a fantastic person who could always make others laugh. “She loved her patients and she gave them hugs and kisses when no one else wanted to touch them,” Mitchell said. Sandy Montgomery-Aker of NCI called Baird “the best friend that anyone could have. She was able to heal many troubled souls with her words and wonderful smile.”

Dr. Kelsey Milner, circa 1943

He was one of a key group of scientists in the 1960s and 1970s who helped bridge RML research from primarily tick-related zoonoses to the detailed, modern mechanisms of how pathogens survive immune responses.

“Kelsey worked at RML alongside scientists like Edgar Ribi and Jack Munoz, and he helped solidify RML’s reputation for excellence,” said Dr. Marshall Bloom, associate director at RML. “He was a great mentor and friend and a very sophisticated thinker and writer.”

Milner’s area of expertise was bacterial toxins (endotoxins) and how those secretions killed immune cells. He frequently collaborated on research projects with Ribi, who ultimately opened a private lab in Hamilton, now owned by Glaxo-SmithKline.

In 1975, Milner was awarded the PHS Commendation Medal for outstanding research and leadership. His undergraduate degree was in English, and Milner took great pride in his manuscript writing and editing, often helping others prepare their studies for publication.

The PHS sent Milner to RML in 1951, shortly after he earned his Ph.D. in microbiology from Tulane University. Upon arriving, Milner was immediately detailed to Korea to study infectious diseases plaguing American troops. While working toward his Ph.D. in a hospital microbiology lab in New Orleans, he met Doris, who soon became his wife. They remained married for 65 years until his death.

“There is a pressing need to inform various audiences about the discoveries in basic and applied behavioral and social sciences that can greatly improve the nation’s health and quality of life,” said Dr. David Abrams, OBSSR director. “Ann’s public relations experience from both the public and private sectors makes her well-qualified to spearhead our communications initiatives and serve as the OBSSR liaison to the NIH Office of Legislative Policy and Analysis.”

Benner was most recently a communications specialist in NCI’s Office of Communications and Education, where she developed and implemented plans for communicating and disseminating clinical trial results. Prior to that, she was in NCI’s press office, where she worked with reporters and NCI scientists, responding to media inquiries, arranging interviews and developing communication strategies.

Before joining NCI in 2004, Benner was a media specialist at several public relations firms in New York, including Chandler Chicco Agency, Ogilvy Public Relations and Weber Shandwick, where she developed and managed strategic communication plans for pharmaceutical and biotech clients such as Amgen, Pfizer Inc. and Deborah Heart & Lung Center. Benner began her communications career publicizing books and authors for major publishing houses in New York.