AUGUST 24, 2007 The Second Best Thing About Payday VOL. LIX, NO. 17 Fauci Receives National Medal of Science By Jennifer Zoon ABOVE · It’s time again to name that cam- pus feature. See contest on p. 12. hen NIAID director Dr. Anthony W Fauci began his investigations into the acquired immune deficiency syndrome features in the early 1980s, he had no inkling that a quarter century later this research would 1 help win him the highest U.S. honor in Fauci Is Sixth NIH National Medal of Science Winner science. On July 27, he attended a White House ceremony where President George 3 Bush awarded him a 2005 National Medal EPA Honors NIH for Its Green Efforts of Science. 5 After a 2-year selection process, Bush and NIH Hosts New Internship for a committee of 13 scientists chose to honor Women Fauci “for pioneering the understanding of Dr. Anthony Fauci is honored by President Bush. 12 the mechanisms whereby the human immune system is regulated, and for his work on Test Your Skill in Identifying dissecting the mechanisms of pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus that Campus Features see medal of science, page 8 ‘We’re All Ears’ The Drug and NIH Meets with Stakeholders to Examine Disease Risk departments Peer Review Changing By Belle Waring Dynamics of Briefs 2 HIV/AIDS Digest 10 Flanked by his working group co-chairs Drs. Examined Volunteers 11 Keith Yamamoto and Lawrence Tabak, NIH By Sarah Schmelling director Dr. Elias Zerhouni recently met with Seen 12 almost 200 members of the scientific com- As long as scien- munity at the Doubletree Hotel in Washing- tists have studied ton, D.C., to hear comments on the NIH peer the HIV epidemic, review process. they’ve been aware of the large role “Peer review is the foundation of NIH success,” Dr. David Metzger discusses drug abuse plays said Zerhouni. “As I travel the world, I notice drug abuse and HIV. in the spread of how other countries want to emulate us. But the virus. Recent- no system remains the same, and peer review ly, they have started to look more closely at a cannot remain high quality unless we have a specific facet of drug abuse: the behavior that transparent process. We’re all ears.” leads someone to risk both addiction and pos- The new working group—the external adviso- sible HIV infection. What do we know about ry committee to the director working group on why people take these risks and how does that peer review—is one of two; its counterpart is knowledge help us understand the way the epi- the internal NIH steering committee working demic is changing? group. Both share the goal of maximizing the These questions were at the core of “Drug efficacy and effectiveness of peer review. Abuse and Risky Behaviors: The Evolving “This is not just a tactical readjustment,” said Dynamics of HIV/AIDS,” a recent 2-day forum Yamamoto of the University of California, San sponsored by NIDA, with many other insti- The NIH Record is recyclable as office Á white paper. Francisco. “We want bold visions and revisions.” tutes collaborating. see peer review, page 4 see drugs and hiv, page 6 2-Day Functional Genomics Symposium Set The fifth annual Symposium on the Functional Genomics of Critical Illness and Injury, “Forging a Critical Alliance: Are We Meeting the Need?” will be held at Natcher Conference Center on Wednesday, briefs Nov. 14 from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Thursday, Nov. 15 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The event will assemble NIH Bone Marrow Drive Set, Aug. 30 multidisciplinary acute and critical care specialists, The NIH chapter of Blacks In Government (BIG) microbiologists, immunologists, cell biologists, and the NIH Marrow Donor Program are recruit- molecular biologists, experts in high-throughput ing volunteers to join the National Bone Marrow technologies and computational scientists to Registry. A bone marrow registration drive will discuss the application of functional genomic ap- be held Thursday, Aug. 30 from noon to 1 p.m. in proaches to critical illness and injury. Deadline for Lipsett Amphitheater, Bldg. 10. Marrow trans- submitting abstracts is Sept. 14. Registration ends plants are life-saving treatments for people with Oct. 15. For more information visit www.strategicre- leukemia, lymphoma and many other diseases. sults.com/fg5. The registry contains more than 10 million po- tential donors. Because tissue type is inherited, Principles of Clinical Research Class matches are most likely made with someone Registration for the 2007-2008 “Introduction to the from a similar racial and ethnic background. BIG Principles and Practice of Clinical Research” has and the donor program are working to improve begun. The course will run from Oct. 15 through the registry’s diversity. For details about the NIH Feb. 25, 2008. The deadline for registering is Oct. event, call Earl Simmons at (301) 435-4365. 5. Classes will be held on campus on Monday and Tuesday evenings from 5 to 6:30. There is no NIH Hosts Vitamin D Meeting, Sept. 5-6 charge for the course but purchase of a textbook The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements is spon- is suggested. A certificate will be awarded upon soring the conference “Vitamin D and Health successful completion of the course, including a The NIH Record is published biweekly at in the 21st Century—An Update” Sept. 5-6 in final exam. For more information or to register, visit Bethesda, MD by the Editorial Operations www.cc.nih.gov/researchers/training/ippcr.shtml Branch, Office of Communications and Masur Auditorium, Bldg. 10. At this follow-up to Public Liaison, for the information of a 2003 NIH Vitamin D conference, speakers will or call (301) 496-9425. employees of the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human present the salient points of past and emerg- Services. The content is reprintable without ing research, including an ODS-sponsored Katz Receives ‘Change It’ Award permission. Pictures may be available upon Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality request. Use of funds for printing this pe- NIAMS director Dr. Stephen Katz was recently riodical has been approved by the director evidence report. The goals are to evaluate the presented the “Change It” award by Parent Project of the Office of Management and Budget efficacy and safety of vitamin D; identify gaps in Muscular Dystrophy President and CEO Pat through September 30, 2007. knowledge on the efficacy and safety of vitamin Furlong. The award was given “in recognition of his D; inform NIH and other federal agencies on NIH Record Office tireless work on behalf of the Duchenne and Becker Bldg. 31, Rm. 5B41 vitamin D and health research priorities; and Muscular Dystrophy to disseminate the conference findings to the Phone (301) 496-2125 community and Fax (301) 402-1485 broad scientific nutrition community. The con- ference—cosponsored by NCI, NIAMS and the in support of our Web address nation’s overall http://nihrecord.od.nih.gov American Society for Nutrition—is free and open to the public. Attendees are asked to register biomedical research Editor at vitamindandhealth.od.nih.gov, where more agenda.” As chair Richard McManus conference material is available. of NIH’s muscular [email protected] dystrophy coordinat- Assistant Editor NIDA Journal Changes Name ing committee, Carla Garnett Katz coordinated [email protected] The National Institute on Drug Abuse is chang- development of Staff Writers ing the name of its scientific journal Perspec- the Muscular Jan Ehrman tives to the Journal of Addiction Science & Dystrophy Research [email protected] Clinical Practice, beginning with the November and Education Plan for the NIH and a subsequent issue. The new title is designed to better reflect Sarah Schmelling document, the Action Plan for the Muscular the journal’s commitment to covering the ex- [email protected] Dystrophies, which outlines and prioritizes specific change of ideas among researchers, clinicians Belle Waring and others in the field of addiction science. aims that now are being pursued by NIH-funded [email protected] NIDA will also increase the number of issues researchers, government agencies in addition to NIH The NIH Record reserves the right to from once to twice a year to accommodate the and voluntary organizations. More information make corrections, changes, or deletions sizeable portfolio of scientific literature being about the plans, the committee and NIH research on in submitted copy in conformity with the muscular dystrophies is available at www.ninds.nih. policies of the paper and HHS. produced in the growing field of drug abuse and addiction research. The peer-reviewed gov/find_people/groups/mdcc/index.htm. NIDA publication is the most widely distributed journal on addiction science. 2 2 AUGUST 24, 2007 AUGUST 24, 2007 VOL. LIX, NO. 17 The Greening of Bldg. 36 NIH Earns EPA Award for Environmental Leadership By Belle Waring The Environmental Protection Agency recently recognized NIH for its commitment to recy- cling, reducing mercury and remediating haz- ardous substances prior to demolition. The achievement award was presented at the Fed- eral Environmental Symposium held at the Natcher and Lister Hill conference centers. Accepting on behalf of NIH was Kenny Floyd, director of the Division of Environmental Protection. This means demolition isn’t what it used to The Environmental Protection be—no more one-shot implosions. As part of Agency, in concert with its EPA also commended NIH for being the first the pilot deconstruction project of Bldg. 36, National Partnership for Envi- federal facility in Maryland to join its National NIH achieved these green goals: ronmental Priorities, recently Partnership for Environmental Priorities pro- presented NIH an achievement gram.