The National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases

Dr. John F. Connaughton is the Chief of the NIDDK Special Emphasis Panel Section 2. Dr. Connaughton earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics at the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. where he focused on eukaryotic 18S ribosomal RNA structure and mRNA ribonucleoprotein complexes. He received his postdoctoral training at Georgetown University studying DNA restriction enzymes and their cognate methylases. After completing his postdoctoral training he moved from academia to industry where he spent ten years. He was first at Oncor Inc., and then at Ventana Medical Systems Inc. While in industry he held several positions including Principal Scientist and Project Manager. At Ventana Medical Systems he led the nucleic acid probe development group that succeeded in developing and launching commercial assays for cancer detection and disease management. Dr. Connaughton has been at the NIH since 2001 first as a Scientific Review Administrator (SRA) in the NIDDK Review Branch and currently also as a Section Chief. He is responsible for the DDK-B Initial Review Group which is one of three NIDDK standing review committees that evaluate individual mentored career grant applications (Ks) and institutional T32 training grants. In addition, he has served as the SRA for the review of other types of grant applications including: program projects, clinical trials, research centers, and NIDDK Requests For Applications (RFAs). He has also conducted reviews of applications involving human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and organized a review meeting for the NCRR focused on grants that support providers of the NIH approved hESC lines. He has chaired several NIDDK Review Branch committees for organizing retreats and establishing best practices. He attends the trans-NIDDK genomics interest group meetings and has participated in organizing two NIDDK workshops. Dr. Connaughton has served on several trans-NIH committees concerned with developing new applicant tables for T32 grants, organizing an all NIH SRA retreat, and the Team PSA Review User Group. He has also completed many training programs including the NIH Senior Leadership Program at the University of Maryland, and he received the NIDDK “You Make a Difference” award.