FYI from the NHLBI Index
September 2009: Vol. 10, Issue 2
Summaries of Meetings
and Announcements of Upcoming Events
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council's June Meeting
Upcoming NHLBI Workshops and Working Groups
Upcoming 2009 and 2010 Events
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council's June Meeting
June 10, 2009
Dr. Nabel welcomed members to the 234th meeting and announced two Institute changes. First, the Division of
Cardiovascular Diseases and the Division of Prevention and Population Sciences will be merged into the Division of Cardiovascular
Sciences to align the Institute's administrative structure with its cardiovascular programs, which now effectively span basic,
clinical, and population research. Dr. Michael Lauer, currently Director of the Division of Prevention and Population Sciences,
will serve as Director of the new Division, and Dr. Sonia Skarlatos, currently Acting Director of the Division of Cardiovascular
Diseases, will serve as Deputy Director. Second, the Institute is seeking a Director for its new Office of Global Health.
The Institute initiated several global health activities this year. In June, it awarded contracts
(jointly with Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group) to establish nine global health Centers of Excellence to form a
worldwide network of research and training centers to build institutional and community capacity to prevent and control
chronic diseases in developing countries.
Dr. Nabel announced two changes in NHLBI leadership: First, Dr. Gregory Morosco, who served as Director of
the Division for the Application of Research Discoveries, retired recently after more than 25 years with the Institute.
He played an instrumental role in the Institute's educational and outreach programs for health professionals, patients,
and the public. Dr. Rob Fulwood is serving as Acting Director. Second, Mr. Donald Christoferson, the NHLBI's Executive
Officer, will retire in July after 37 years with the NIH. He was recently awarded the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious
Executive. Mr. Timothy Wheeles will serve as the NHLBI’s Acting Executive Officer.
Dr. Nabel reviewed the Institute's FY 2010 President's Budget, which represents a 1.1 percent increase
over the FY 2009 Conference budget. No major changes have been made since FY 2009 in any of the budget categories.
Dr. Nabel summarized the NIH scientific research and funding approach to the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (ARRA) and described NHLBI ARRA funding plans. The NHLBI will receive about 10 percent of the $7.4 billion provided to NIH ICs
for scientific research. NHLBI ARRA funding plans are to accelerate implementation of the NHLBI Strategic Plan, fund programs that
will demonstrate significant advances in 2 years, and create or preserve jobs, especially to support new and early-stage
investigators. The NHLBI ARRA web site (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/recovery/) provides additional
information, guidelines for grantees, FAQs, and links to additional ARRA resources.
Dr. Nabel discussed the proposed process the NHLBI developed to facilitate Council nominations of peer reviewers
for study sections and NHLBI review committees. Council members will be able to complete reviewer nomination forms via the Electronic
Council Book. The Council concurred with the proposed process and nomination forms will be available on the Electronic Council Book
for the next Council meeting.
Dr. Nabel reviewed the NHLBI Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37), which is intended to provide
long-term research grant support to investigators whose research competency and productivity are distinctly superior and who are
likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner. Investigators may not apply for a MERIT award; instead, they are selected
by the NHLBI on the basis of their current grant applications and their present and past grant support. Although generally supportive
of the program and its award process, Council members recommended instituting a more stringent review of potential nominees to ensure
that all nominees are exceptionally productive researchers.
Ms. Paula Polite, Council member and Manager of Quality Programs, Division of General Services, Memphis, Tennessee,
reported on the tenth annual NHLBI PIO meeting held on June 8-9, 2009. She thanked the NHLBI and reported results of an informal
survey indicating that participants found the meeting content and opportunities for networking and meeting with NHLBI staff to be
beneficial. She emphasized that participants find the "Meet the NHLBI Staff" portion of the meeting to especially helpful for
building relationships. Dr. Nabel indicated the importance of this event to the Institute.
Dr. Sidney C. Smith, Jr., Professor of Medicine, University of North Carolina, and Senior Advisor, Cardiovascular
Research Translation and Application, NHLBI, presented a status report on the development of NHLBI CVD risk factor guidelines. He
summarized the guidelines development process and discussed the new Web-based approach being used to develop guidelines.
NHLBI staff presented 7 new initiatives and 8 renewals, 2 ideas, and 2 requests by other ICs for secondary
support, all of which had been reviewed in October by the Board of External Experts. The Council was supportive of the initiatives
presented, but made a number of specific recommendations for consideration prior to their release.
Full
minutes of Council meetings and summaries of the initiatives are available.
Upcoming NHLBI Workshops and Working Groups
PIO representatives will be accommodated on a space-available basis and will be responsible for their own travel expenses.
Workshop: Getting from Genes to Function in Lung Disease
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: September 3-4, 2009
Contact: Dr. Susan Banks-Schlegel
Upcoming 2009 and 2010 Events
Date: September 1, 2009
Location: Bethesda, MD
Date: September 23-26, 2009
Location: Bloomingdale, IL
Date: September 24-26, 2009
Location: Arlington, VA
Date: September 26, 2009
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: October 10, 2009
Location: Tampa, FL
Date: September 30 - October 3, 2009
Location: Orlando, FL
Date: October 1-4, 2009
Location: Baltimore, MD
Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association (SCAA)
2009 Annual Meeting & Medical Education Conference
Date: October 9-11, 2009
Location: Chicago, IL
Date: October 9-11, 2009
Location: New York, NYMarco Island, FL
Date: October 23, 2009
Location: Chicago, IL
Date: October 23-25, 2009
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Date: October 29–31, 2009
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: November 14-18, 2009
Location: Orlando, FL
Date: December 5–8, 2009
Location: San Antonio, TX
Date: January 15–18, 2010
Location: Arlington, TX
Date: March 5-6, 2010
Location: National Harbor, MD
Please send us your feedback, comments, and questions by using the appropriate link on the page, Contact the NHLBI.
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