Get Email Alerts
FYI from the NHLBI Index
January 2010: Vol. 10, Issue 3
Summaries of Meetings
and Announcements of Upcoming Events
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council's September and October Meetings
Upcoming NHLBI Workshops and Working Groups
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council's September and October Meetings
September 1, 2009
Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, Director of the NHLBI, welcomed members to the 235th meeting of the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Advisory Council (NHLBAC). The meeting was entirely a closed session. Council members attended via video
conference and telephone. The Council concurred on the award of numerous research grants to be supported with FY 2009
appropriated funds and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds.
October 20, 2009
Dr. Nabel welcomed members to the 236th meeting of the NHLBAC. She also welcomed representatives of three NHLBI Advisory Committees: Dr. C. William Balke, representing the NHLBI Institutional Training Mechanism Review Committee; Dr. Charles Czeisler, representing the Sleep Disorder Research Advisory Board; and Dr. John J. Reilly, Jr., representing the Clinical Trials Review Committee. Dr. Nabel noted that Dr. Edward Benz of the Sickle Cell Disease Advisory Committee and Dr. Anne Marie Schmidt of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Program Project Review Committee were unable to attend.
Dr. Nabel recognized five Council members who are retiring: Dr. Victor Dzau, Dr. Helen Hobbs, Dr. Jennie Joe, Dr. Joseph Loscalzo, and Dr. S. K. Rao Musunuru.
Dr. Nabel announced that the NIH is operating under a Continuing Resolution, which means that the NHLBI must operate at its FY 2009 budget level of $3,014,552,000. She reviewed the Institute's proposed FY 2010 President's Budget, which totals $3,050,356,000, a 1.3 percent increase over the FY 2009 actual budget. Total research project grants (noncompeting and competing) are proposed at $2,051,848,000, a 0.6 percent increase over FY 2009. Dr. Nabel also reviewed the Institute's FY 2009/FY 2010 ARRA funding plan. Most of the Institute's ARRA allotment has been obligated.
Dr. Nabel updated the Council on progress in implementing recommended actions resulting from the recent NIH-led study of the NIH peer review system. Changes in 2009 include phasing out second amendments and implementing enhanced review criteria, a new scoring system, and structured critiques.
Dr. Nabel also noted that investigators submitting competing applications for the January 25, 2010, submission date (and beyond) should be aware of the restructured application forms, shorter page limits, and new instructions.
Dr. Nabel described the Institute’s participation in two new global health programs: the NHLBI Centers of Excellence, a partnership between the NHLBI and UnitedHealth Group which will address non-communicable chronic cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases in developing countries and the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, which is the first collaboration of major international biomedical research funding agencies to address chronic noncommunicable diseases.
Dr. Toren Finkel, Chief of the Translational Medicine Branch, NHLBI Division of Intramural Research, discussed his laboratory's research in the areas of oxidant and free radical-mediated diseases, aging, and the clinical cardiovascular implications of stem cells.
Dr. Nabel reviewed the Institute's established translational research programs and presented new and proposed translational approaches.
The established translational research programs discussed were the Clinical Research Networks, the Production Assistance for Cell Therapy (PACT), and the NIH Rapid Access to Intervention Development (RAID).
New approaches discussed by Dr. Nabel were the Bench to Bassinet Program, the Pediatric Cardiac Genomics Consortium, the Pediatric Heart Network, the Cardiovascular Development Consortium, the Cardiac Translational Research Implementation Program (C-TRIP), the Grand Opportunities Translational Research Implementation Program (GO TRIP), the Translational Program Project Grant (tPPG), the Phase II Clinical Trials of Novel Treatments for Lung Diseases, and the Science Moving TowArds Research Translation and Therapy (SMARTT) program.
Finally, proposed translational approaches discussed were the Centers for Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics (CADET), the NHLBI Clinical Trial Pilot Studies, and the Planning Grants for Pivotal Clinical Trials in Hemoglobinopathies. The Council members expressed their enthusiasm for the programs.
NHLBI staff presented 8 new initiatives, 11 renewals, and 4 requests by other Institutes/Centers for secondary support, all of which had been reviewed in October by the Board of External Experts. The Council was mostly 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
No Workshops or Working Groups are scheduled for the period of January through May, 2010.
Upcoming 2010 Events
Parent Heart Watch 2010 Annual National Conference
Date: January 15 - 18, 2010
Location: Arlington, TX
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council 237th Meeting
Date: February 2, 2010
Location: Bethesda, MD
American Heart Association International Stroke Conference 2010
Date: February 23 - 29, 2010
Location: San Antonio, TX
National Sleep Foundation Sleep Health and Safety 2010 Conference
Date: March 5 - 6, 2010
Location: Washington, DC
National Alliance for Thrombosis and Thrombophilia National Conference on Blood Disorders in Public Health
Date: March 9 - 11, 2010
Location: Atlanta, GA
Alpha-1 Foundation: Building Friends for a Cure
Date: March 12, 2010
Location: Needham, MA
Daniella Maria Arturi Foundation 11th Annual Diamond Blackfan Anemia International Consensus Conference
Date: March 13 - 15, 2010
Location: To Be Announced
Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome Network, Inc. 17th annual HPS Network New York Conference
Date: March 19 - 21, 2010
Location: Long Island, NY
Progeria Research Foundation 6th International Workshop on Progeria: From Bench to Bedside in a Decade
Date: April 11 - 13, 2010
Location: Boston, MA
American Sleep Apnea Association Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference 2010
Date: May 11 - 12, 2010
Location: Baltimore, MD
Mended Hearts 58th Annual Convention
Date: May 19 - 23, 2010
Location: Bloomington, MN
Alpha-1 Association 2010 19th Annual National Education Conference
Date: June 11 - 13, 2010
Location: Lake Buena Vista, FL
Children's Interstitial Lung Disease (chILD) Foundation chILD Conference 2010
Date: June 18 - 20, 2010
Location: Houston, TX
Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy 2010 Annual Connect Conference
Date: June 24 - 27, 2010
Location: Denver, CO
Pulmonary Hypertension Association Conference and Scientific Sessions
Date: June 25 - 27, 2010
Location: Garden Grove, CA
TOPS Club, Inc. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) International Recognition Days
Date: July 15 - 17, 2010
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Barth Syndrome Foundation 2010 International Scientific, Medical & Family Conference
Date: July 26 - 31, 2010
Location: Orlando, FL
Scleroderma Foundation 2010 National Conference
Date: July 30 - August 1, 2010
Location: Boston, MA
Please send us your feedback, comments, and questions by using the appropriate link on the page, Contact the NHLBI.
Note to users of screen readers and other assistive technologies: please report your problems here.
All Issues | FYI Index | NHLBI Express
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube