NIH Director Selects Dr. Roger I. Glass as Fogarty International
Center Director
Bethesda, Maryland — Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced that Roger I. Glass, M.D., Ph.D.,
will be the new director of the Fogarty International Center (FIC) and Associate
Director of NIH for international programs. Dr. Glass, who is currently the chief
of the Viral Gastroenteritis Section at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
in Atlanta, Georgia, will join NIH in May, 2006.
“Dr. Glass is a leading scientist and recognized expert in the development and
introduction of rotavirus vaccines in the developing world,” Dr. Zerhouni said. “His
global view of the disease burden caused by infections and diseases will ensure
that the Fogarty International Center continues to move forward in the quest
to eliminate health disparities worldwide.”
“I am honored to lead the Fogarty International Center,” said Dr. Glass. “The
Center has a long history of funding programs to target infectious diseases that
are highly prevalent in developing nations, such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
But it is in initiating programs that reflect the newest opportunities and challenges
in predicting emerging global health problems that the Fogarty Center has been
particularly noteworthy.”
Dr. Glass will oversee an annual budget of more than $60 million. The Fogarty
International Center promotes and supports scientific research and training internationally
to reduce disparities in global health. FIC has assumed a leadership role in
formulating and implementing biomedical research and policy.
Dr. Glass graduated from Harvard College in 1967, received a Fulbright Fellowship
to study at the University of Buenos Aires in 1967, and received his M.D. from
Harvard Medical School and his M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health
in 1972. Dr. Glass joined the CDC in 1977 as a medical officer assigned to the
Environmental Hazards Branch. He received his doctorate from the University of
Goteborg, Sweden in 1983, and joined the National Institutes of Health Laboratory
of Infectious Diseases, where he worked on the molecular biology of rotavirus.
In 1986, Dr. Glass returned to the CDC to become Chief of the Viral Gastroenteritis
Unit at the National Center for Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Glass's research interests are in the prevention of gastroenteritis from
rotaviruses and nonviruses through the application of novel scientific research.
He has maintained field studies in India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Mexico, Israel,
Russia, Vietnam, China and elsewhere. His research has been targeted toward epidemiologic
studies to anticipate the introduction of rotavirus vaccines. He is fluent and
often lectures in 5 languages.
Dr. Glass has received numerous awards, including the Secretary’s Award for
Distinguished Service (DHHS), the Outstanding Unit Citation from the National
Center for Infectious Diseases, the Outstanding Service Medal from the U.S. Public
Health Service, and a Commendation Medal from the U.S. Public Health Service.
He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine,
the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Society of Microbiology, the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of
Virology, and the American Epidemiological Society. Dr. Glass is also a fellow
in the Infectious Disease Society and the American College of Epidemiology.
Dr. Glass has co-authored more than 400 research papers and chapters. He is
married to Barbara Stoll, M.D., the George W. Brumley, Jr. Professor and Chair
of the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and the
Medical Director of the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. He and
his wife have three children.
FIC, the international component of the NIH, addresses global health challenges
through innovative and collaborative research and training programs and supports
and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships.
The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for
setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves
planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH
components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which
are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH.
Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research
Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal
agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical
research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common
and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov. |