|
Special Assistant to the Director
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health
Dr. Abeles is a Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research in the Office of the Director at the National Institutes of Health. From 1991 to 1998, he served as the Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging (BSR/NIA). Previously he served at BSR/NIA as the Deputy Associate Director (1980-1991). He received the National Institutes of Health Award of Merit twice for "leadership and contributions to the advancement of behavioral and social research on aging within the Federal Government and nationally" (1993) and for "exceptional leadership in advancing a program of research to understand and apply knowledge about the relationship between psychosocial factors and health" (2002).
Dr. Abeles has been instrumental in fostering behavioral and social research throughout the National Institutes of Health. From 1980 to 1993 he served as the Executive Secretary and Acting Chair of the ad hoc NIH Working Group on Health and Behavior. From 1993 to the present he was first the Vice Chair and then the Chair of the NIH Health and Behavior Coordinating Committee and then of its successor, the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee. The committee facilitates behavioral and social research across the NIH and is an advisory group to the Director, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH. For these activities, he received the NIH Director's Award in 1990.
At OBSSR Dr. Abeles has been played a leadership role in several funding initiatives, including mind-body research, adherence, cultural and social factors in health, behavioral and social science contributions to understanding health disparities, and genetics and social environments. He is the organizer of the monthly NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Lecture Series and of the annual Matlida White Riley Lecture on Behavioral and Social Sciences. He is the project officer and co-organizer of the annual OBSSR Summer Training Institute on Randomized Control Trials Involving Behavioral Interventions.
Dr. Abeles has held elected offices in the aging sections of the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Sociological Association (ASA), and the Gerontological Society of America. He was the Chair (1999-2000) and newsletter editor (1988-2002) of the ASA's Section on Aging and the Life Course. He was twice the Program Chair of the APA's Division (20) on Adult Development and Aging (1990 and 2000) and was its President (2001-2002). He is a Fellow of the APA, the Association for Psychological Science (APS), the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM), and of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA). In 2004 the American Psychological Association presented him with its Meritorious Research Service Commendation, and APA Division 38 honored him with its Career Service to Health Psychology Award.
back to top
Acting Director
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health
Dr. Bachrach is the Acting Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health and Acting Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the NIH. Prior to assuming this role, she served as Chief of the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. A demographer by training, Dr. Bachrach received her Masters in Sociology from Georgetown University and her Ph.D. in Population Dynamics from John Hopkins University. Her scientific interests and publications span the areas of fertility, family formation, marriage and divorce, adoption, sexual behavior, contraceptive practice, and survey methodology. Notable activities at NIH have included oversight of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), co-chairing the 2000 NIH Conference, “Toward Higher Levels of Analysis: Progress and Promise in Research on Social and Cultural Dimensions of Health”, and co-chairing the Social Environment Working Group of the National Children’s Study. She has been Vice-President of the Population Association of America, has chaired the Sociology of Population Section of the American Sociological Association, and serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Marriage and Family.
back to top
Director, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
National Cancer Institute
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Croyle was appointed Director of NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) in 2003. DCCPS includes large programs in behavioral science, health services and outcomes research, dissemination and implementation research, surveillance, epidemiology, and cancer survivorship. He previously served as Associate Director for Behavioral Research in DCCPS (1998-2003). Before moving to NCI, Dr. Croyle was Professor of Psychology at the University of Utah and Member of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He previously held positions at the University of Washington, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Williams College. Dr. Croyle received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Princeton University and his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Washington. His research has focused on how individuals interpret and respond to chronic disease risk information, including genetic test results. He is a Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and the American Psychological Association, and a Member of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.
back to top
Deputy Director, Extramural Research Program
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Emmeline Edwards has been Deputy Director of the NINDS Extramural Program since April 2005. In this capacity, Dr. Edwards provides oversight to all scientific and administrative aspects of research programs funded by NINDS in public and private institutions across the country. NINDS has been at the forefront of funding neuroscience research in areas ranging from the structure and function of single brain cells to research on the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders and, most recently, the translational research that is helping to bridge the gap. The Institute's mission is to reduce the burden of neurological disease - a burden borne by every age group, by every segment of society, by people all over the world.
Before coming to NIH/NINDS, Dr. Edwards earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Fordham University, did postdoctoral research at SUNY Stony Brook Medical School and was a tenured Associate Professor in the Departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Neuroscience at the University of Maryland. Her research focused on the neurobiological mechanisms of maladaptive behaviors and behavioral genetics. Prior to joining NIH, Dr. Edwards was Program Director for Behavioral Neuroscience at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the NSF representative to the Human Brain Project. Dr. Edwards joined the NINDS Extramural Division in 2000 as a Program Director in the Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience Cluster. In this role, she developed many NINDS and trans-NIH research initiatives and was responsible for overseeing grants in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, neurobehavioral disorders and all aspects of central nervous system plasticity.
Specialties: Neural mechanisms of complex behaviors, systems and cognitive neuroscience, neurobehavioral disorders, CNS plasticity
back to top
Director
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institutes of Health
Thomas R. Insel, M.D., is Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Prior to his NIMH appointment in November 2002, Dr. Insel was Professor of Psychiatry at Emory University; founding director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, one of the largest NSF-funded science and technology centers; director of an NIH-funded Center for Autism Research; and director of the Yerkes Regional Primate Center in Atlanta. A focus of his work has involved examining the role of the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin in social attachment – including, for example, maternal behavior and pair-bond formation – and in aggressive behavior. Early in his career, while at NIMH, Dr. Insel conducted clinical research on obsessive-compulsive disorder, conducting some of the first treatment trials for OCD using the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) class of medications. A member of the Institute of Medicine, he is also a Fellow of the ACNP and has served on numerous academic, scientific, and professional committees.
back to top
Deputy Chief, Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch
Division of Prevention and Population Sciences
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Kaufmann’s research interests are in the design, conduct, and analysis of clinical trials, particularly with respect to prevention of cardiovascular diseases and behavioral or lifestyle interventions, such as Psychophysiological Investigations of Myocardial Ischemia (PIMI), the Hypertension Intervention Pooling Project (HIPP), the stress management arm of the Trials of Hypertension Prevention (TOHP), the Raynauds Treatment Study (RTS), and the Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease Patients (ENRICHD) trial. Other trials include the Trial of Physical Activity in Adolescent Girls (TAAG), the Weight Loss Maintenance Trial (WLM) and LookAHEAD, a trial to evaluate lifestyle change on cardiovascular events in Type 2 diabetes. He serves on the NIDA Clinical Trials Network DSMB and Chair for the trial of Rapid Testing for HIV. He conducts the Annual Summer Institute on Behavioral Randomized Clinical Trials, now in its 9th year. During his early career he conducted research in neuroscience, including the organization of the visual system and studies of the effects of very high barometric pressure on neuronal excitability. He is Deputy Chief of the Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch, DPPS, NHLBI.
back to top
Acting Director
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Raynard S. Kington, M.D., Ph.D. was named Acting NIH Director of the National Institutes of Health on October 31, 2008, following the departure of Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. Since February 9, 2003, when Dr. Kington was appointed Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he shared in the overall leadership, policy direction, and coordination of NIH biomedical research and research training programs of NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers with a budget of almost $29 billion and 18,000 employees. Prior to this appointment, he had been Associate Director of NIH for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research since September, 2000. In addition to this role, from January, 2002 to November, 2002, he served as Acting Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Prior to coming to NIH, Dr. Kington was Director of the Division of Health Examination Statistics at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As Division Director, he also served as Director of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), one of the nation's largest studies to assess the health of the American people. Prior to coming to NCHS, he was a Senior Scientist in the Health Program at the RAND Corporation. While at RAND, Dr. Kington was a Co-Director of the Drew/RAND Center on Health and Aging, a National Institute on Aging Exploratory Minority Aging Center.
Dr. Kington attended the University of Michigan, where he received his B.S. with distinction and his M.D. He subsequently completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Michael Reese Medical Center in Chicago. He was then appointed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. While at the University of Pennsylvania, he completed his M.B.A. with distinction and his Ph.D. with a concentration in Health Policy and Economics at the Wharton School and was awarded a Fontaine Fellowship. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine. In 2006, Dr. Kington was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Kington's research has focused on the role of social factors, especially socioeconomic status, as determinants of health. His current research includes studies of the health and socioeconomic status of black immigrants, differences in populations in willingness to participate in genetic research, and racial and ethnic differences in infectious disease rates. His research has included studies of the relationship between wealth and health status; the health status of U.S. Hispanic populations; the determinants of health care services utilization; the economic impact of health care expenditures among the elderly; and racial and ethnic differences in the use of long-term care.
back to top
Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch
Center for Research for Mothers and Children
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
National Institutes of Health
Peggy McCardle, Ph.D., MPH, has worked as university faculty and in clinical language diagnosis and treatment position in medical facilities. She began her NIH career as a Scientific Review Administrator, in the Division of Research Grants (now Center for Scientific Review). She subsequently served as Special Assistant, then Senior Advisor, to Dr. Wendy Baldwin, who was then Deputy Director for Extramural Research in the NIH Office of the Director. From there, she moved to the position of Associate Branch Chief at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), where she is now Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch. In addition to her oversight of the Branch, she directs the research program on Language, Bilingual and Biliteracy, which includes research on monolingual, bilingual and cross linguistic studies of language development and bilingual/ language minority reading. Dr. McCardle developed branch programs in language, literacy, and other area of learning (math and science). She is co-editor of the several published or in press volumes and has served as guest editor of thematic journal issues on reading, bilingualism and English-language learner research, as part of the Branch’s research dissemination activities.
back to top
Deputy Director
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Richard K. Nakamura is currently the Scientific Director of the NIMH Intramural Program. The Scientific Director leads the NIMH in-house research program, currently funded at 165million per year. (Dr. Nakamura received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Earlham College (Richmond, IN), his Master of Arts in Psychology from New York University, and his Ph.D. in Psychology from State University of New York (Stony Brook, NY). He has been with the NIMH since 1976 first in NIMH and NEI post-doctoral fellowships within the Laboratory of Neuropsychology and a staff fellowship and senior staff fellowship in the Laboratory of Psychology. I the mid-80’s he transitioned to extramural administration, first running the Biobehavioral Program and later the Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch. Since 1997, he has served as Acting Deputy Director, Deputy Director and Acting Director. While at NIMH, he has held other positions such as Associate Director for Science Policy and Program Planning; Chief, Behavioral and Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch; and Coordinator, ADAMHA Office of Animal Research Issues. Dr. Nakamura has special expertise in several areas, including cognitive and comparative neuroscience, science policy/funding and ethics in science. He has published 26 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, most related to neurocognition of primates.
In 1999, Dr. Nakamura led the NIH/NIMH participation with the U.S. Surgeon General's Office in researching and writing the first report on mental illness. The report goes into detail on the fundamentals of mental health and mental illness, the prevalence and treatment of mental illness, the tie between mind and body, policy, legal and ethical issues around mental illness, and a vision for the future. The report further details mental health issues surrounding children, adults and older adults. Dr. Nakamura was also involved in the development of the supplement to the Surgeon General’s Report: Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity.
Dr. Nakamura received recognition from the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, for his leadership in the Secretary’s Initiative in Mental Health, and for the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health. In 2001, he received the NIH-Asian/Pacific American Organization (APAO) Outstanding Achievement Award for Administrative Work. In 2002, Dr. Nakamura was elected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Board of Directors to the status of AAAS Fellow. Also in 2002, Dr. Nakamura was awarded the Presidential Rank Award for outstanding leadership. In 2004 and 2005 respectively, he received leadership awards from the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences, and from the International Society for Behavioral Neuroscience.
back to top
Chief, Behavioral and Integrative Treatment Branch
Associate Director for Treatment
Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Research
National Institute on Drug Abuse
National Institutes of Health
Lisa Onken is Chief of the Behavioral and Integrative Treatment Branch and the Associate Director for Treatment in the Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), NIH. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Northwestern University in 1981 where she studied the interactive effects of circadian rhythms, personality, and performance. She completed her clinical psychology internship at Cook County Hospital and continued working as a clinical psychologist at the University of Illinois Medical School. In 1985 she joined the Department of Behavioral Biology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research where she studied the effects of medications, such as benzodiazepines, on sleep, mood and performance. After moving to NIH in 1987, with interests in basic science and treatment research, she created and administered (in 1992) NIDA’s Behavioral Treatment Development Program, a program of research that supports the development and improvement of treatments and adherence interventions for individuals with drug dependence and associated mental disorders. One of the hallmarks of this program is a translational focus on bridging basic and clinical science- with the purpose of improving the quality of clinical science, accelerating knowledge about mechanisms of behavior change, and ultimately developing better treatments. In1997 she served as the Guest Editor of a special section of Psychological Science called “Behavior Therapy and Psychological Science,” and in 1998, she Guest-edited with Richard Bootzin a special issue of Behavior Therapy. Both of these publications were the result of interdisciplinary meetings between basic behavioral scientists and treatment researchers, and the goal of these publications was to further stimulate collaboration between these fields to develop new and better treatments. More recently, she has led initiatives bridging neuroscience and behavioral treatment development, with the 2004 meeting “Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience and Behavioral Treatment Development: New Directions for Translational Research,” and the 2007 meeting “Social Neuroscience: Developing More Powerful Behavioral Interventions.” In conjunction with efforts to bridge basic and clinical science, and to foster clinical research that informs mechanisms of behavior change, Dr. Onken has promoted the utilization of new technologies to boost treatment effects and simultaneously decrease treatment costs. The ultimate purpose of Dr. Onken’s work at NIDA has been to develop the most effective and the most “community-friendly” treatments for drug abuse possible.
back to top
Director, Division of Basic Neuroscience and Behavioral Research
National Institute on Drug Abuse
National Institutes of Health
Dr. David Shurtleff is Director of the Division of Basic Neuroscience and Behavioral Research (DBNBR) at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health. Dr. Shurtleff is responsible for management of DBNBR program operations. DBNBR is one of four divisions within NIDA with thirty-three staff comprising the Office of the Director and four branches: Behavioral and Cognitive Science Research Branch, Chemistry and Physiological Systems Research Branch and Functional Neuroscience Research Branch, and the Genetics and Molecular Neurobiology Research Branch.
Before becoming Director, Dr. Shurtleff served as the Deputy Director for the Division and as a Health Scientist Administrator in Behavioral Sciences Research Branch within the Division where he supported extramural research in the basic behavioral sciences, including research in the cognitive sciences, behavioral economics, decision theory, and human and animal models of impulsivity, risk taking and other aspects of drug addiction.
Before coming to NIDA, David was a Research Psychologist at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda. While with the Navy he conducted basic behavioral, electrophysiological, cognitive, and field research on a variety of issues related to cognitive performance, environmental stress, and peripheral neuropathy. Before joining the Naval Medical Research Institute, Dr. Shurtleff was a Research Fellow at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, in the Department of Medical Neurosciences.
back to top
Chief of the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
National Institutes of Health
Stephen J. Suomi, PhD Chief of the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institutes of Health Stephen J. Suomi, Ph.D. is Chief of the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology at the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. He also holds appointments as Research Professor at the University of Virginia (Psychology), the University of Maryland, College Park (Human Development), and The Johns Hopkins University (Mental Hygiene), and is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University (Psychology), the Pennsylvania State University (Human Development) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Psychology). Dr. Suomi studied Psychology as an undergraduate at Stanford University and continued his studies as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, receiving his Ph.D. in Psychology in 1971. Dr. Suomi then joined the Psychology faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he eventually attained the rank of Professor. In 1983 he left Wisconsin to join the NICHD, when he began his present position.
Dr. Suomi has received international recognition for his extensive research on biobehavioral development in rhesus monkeys and other primate species. His initial postdoctoral research successfully reversed the adverse effects of early social isolation, previous thought to be permanent, in rhesus monkeys. His subsequent research at Wisconsin led to his election as Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science ‘for major contributions to the understanding of social factors that influence the psychological development of nonhuman primates.” Since joining the NICHD he has identified heritable and experiential factors that influence individual biobehavioral development, characterized both behavioral and physiological features of distinctive rhesus monkey phenotypes, and demonstrated the adaptive significance of these different phenotypes in naturalistic settings. His present research focuses on 3 general issues: the interaction between genetic and environmental factors in shaping individual developmental trajectories, the issue of continuity vs. change and the relative stability of individual differences throughout development, and the degree to which findings from monkeys studied in captivity generalize not only to monkeys living in the wild but also to humans living in different cultures.
Throughout his professional career Dr. Suomi has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors. To date, he has authored or co-authored over 350 articles published in scientific journals and chapters in edited volumes. He has also delivered over 350 invited colloquia, symposium and workshop presentations, and convention papers in the U.S. and in 15 foreign countries.
back to top
Director,
Division of Behavioral and Social Research
National Institute on Aging
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Suzman is the Director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Research (DBSR) at the National Institute on Aging. He played a major role in developing the demography and economics of aging. He has also been instrumental in fostering interdisciplinary fields such biodemography, behavioral economics, neuroeconomics, and social neuroscience. He built the research infrastructure for the study of population aging, including the Demography Centers (winner of the 2008 Heidelberg Gold Medal). He conceived and developed the innovative Health and Retirement Study that has spawned over 25 comparable studies worldwide. Many of these national longitudinal surveys pioneered the inclusion of sophisticated cognitive and physiological measures of health as well as novel measures of economic wealth. He was instrumental in building the federal statistical system regarding aging He is also known for recognizing and portraying the rapid growth of the age 85-plus population and has led international efforts to understand the causes, course and impacts of population aging.
Prior to appointment as NIA’s Associate Director for Social and Behavioral Research, he was Chief of BSR’s Demography and Population Epidemiology Branch and Director of the Office of the Demography of Aging. He helped found the Federal Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, a coordinating organization composed of over 35 Federal agencies. He transferred from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg to Harvard University from which he obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees. At Oxford University he received a Diploma of Social Anthropology. He was a Post Doctoral Fellow and Research Associate at Stanford University, where he also served briefly on the faculty. Prior to NIH he was a member of the UCSF Psychiatry Department. Dr. Suzman has edited several volumes, including The Oldest Old (OUP) and Forecasting the Health of Elderly Populations (Springer Verlag). In 2007 he was honored with a Presidential Rank award and he also received the Population Association of America’s biennial Robert J. Lapham Award for distinguished contributions to population research, application of demographic knowledge to improve the human condition and service to the population-research profession.
back to top
Director
National Institute on Drug Abuse
National Institutes of Health
Nora D. Volkow, M.D. became Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health in May 2003. Her work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a disease of the human brain. As a research psychiatrist and scientist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the toxic effects of drugs and their addictive properties. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and the behavioral changes that occur with aging. Dr. Volkow was born in Mexico, attended the Modern American School, earned her medical degree from the National University of Mexico and did her psychiatric residency at New York University. She spent most of her professional career at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York, where she held several leadership positions including Director of Nuclear Medicine, Chairman of the Medical Department, and Associate Director for Life Sciences. In addition, Dr. Volkow was a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of the Medical School at the State University of New York (SUNY)-Stony Brook. She has published more than 400 peer-reviewed articles and more than 60 book chapters and non-peer reviewed manuscripts, and has also edited three books on the use of neuroimaging in studying mental and addictive disorders. In 2000, Dr. Volkow was selected for membership in the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine and named “Innovator of the Year” by U.S. News & World Report. She was chosen as one of Time Magazine's “Top 100 People Who Shape our World” in 2007, and was cited as one of the 20 people to watch by Newsweek magazine in its “Who’s Next in 2007” feature.
back to top
|
