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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 29, 2003 #03-10 NIEHS CONTACT:
Bill Grigg (301) 402-3378 29 Jul 2003: Olden to Step Down as Director of NIEHS and the National Toxicology ProgramOlden Will Continue His NIEHS Research Kenneth Olden, Ph.D. (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/pastdirectors/kennetholden.cfm), Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/), which is an Institute of the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov/) ![]() Kenneth Olden, Ph.D. Dr. Olden said, "I want to spend more time with my family and again become more directly involved in directing my research program," which he has continued while also directing the agencies. "Twelve years is enough as NIEHS/NTP director - the longest I have stayed in any position. That I have remained this long as director is the best indication of how much I have enjoyed the scientific and public health challenges of leading these great institutions." Health and Human Services (http://www.hhs.gov/) National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov/) Born in poverty in the eastern Tennessee farming community of Parrottsville, Dr. Olden rose to conduct frequently cited cancer-related studies and to become, in 1991, the first African American named to head an institute of the National Institutes of Health. He recalls that, as a child, he heard his great-grandmother, who was born in slavery, relate vivid accounts of those days. Dr. Olden said that this heritage has fueled his efforts on behalf of community-based research on health disparities and environmental justice. At NIEHS/NTP, he proved to be an innovative scientific manager. He conducted Town Meetings (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/community/townmeetings.cfm) around the country to help inform his decisions regarding NIEHS' future research activities. He promoted the use of new genetic tools to determine how the environment helps or harms human health. He developed the NIEHS journal Environmental Health Perspectives (http://www.ehponline.org/) as a monthly publication along with a new quarterly Environmental Health Perspectives-Toxicogenomics (http://www.ehponline.org/txg/docs/2004/112-16/toc.html) section. What he has called his mantra - the observation that human diseases are generally the product of a triangle of environment, genetics and age - has become widely accepted. At the National Toxicology Program, the first federal chemical screening using genetically modified rodents has begun - a process Dr. Olden has supported because he believes it will provide more safety with fewer animals and at less cost. The changes, he hopes, will also help bring needed products, such as new prescription drugs, to market quicker. The NTP serves the federal regulatory health agencies with its findings and the publication of the federal Report on Carcinogens, on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services. Under Dr. Olden, NTP's Report on Carcinogens has declared the safety of saccharin and announced the carcinogenicity of dioxin, of second-hand smoke and sun lamps and of a number of industrial compounds. Olden earned a B.S. at Knoxville College, an M.S. from the University of Michigan and, in 1970, a doctorate in biology from Temple University in Philadelphia. He did much of the research for that doctorate at the University of Rochester, where he was presented a second doctorate - the honorary degree of Doctor of Sciences - this past May 18. A cell biologist and biochemist, Olden was active in research into the properties of cell surface molecules and their roles in human cancer at Harvard University and the National Cancer Institute. In 1985, he became director of the Howard University Cancer Center and professor and chairman of the Howard Department of Oncology. While serving there he was appointed to NIEHS. His honors include appointment by President George H. W. Bush to membership on the National Cancer Advisory Board (http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/ADVISORY/ncab.htm) Dr. Olden and his wife, Sandra L. White, Ph.D., and daughter Heather live in Durham, N.C. He also has three grown children. |
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