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NAEC Member Joins NIH Council of Councils

Dr. Lenworth N. Johnson and NIH
director Dr. Elias Zerhouni at the
first meeting of the NIH Council
of Councils, November 8, 2007.

Lenworth N. Johnson, M.D., a member of NEI’s Advisory Eye Council (NAEC), has been appointed to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Council of Councils.  He will represent the vision community on the newly established body created to guide NIH on trans-Institute research initiatives.  The Council of Councils was mandated by the NIH Reform Act of 2006.  The group includes representatives from the existing advisory councils to the 27 NIH institutes and centers (ICs) and members of the NIH Council of Public Representatives.

The Council will advise on grant proposals for novel research that either cuts across or falls between the missions of ICs.  Trans-Institute research will be paid for through the “Common Fund,” money set aside from the annual NIH appropriation to support these priority projects.  NIH hosted the first planning meeting of the Council on November 8, 2007.

Dr. Johnson is a neuro-ophthalmologist at the University of Missouri Mason Eye Institute. He is involved in several research projects on disorders affecting the visual pathway and visual processing, including optic neuropathy, optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis and pseudotumor cerebri.   Dr. Johnson has been a member of the NAEC since December 2004.

For more information on the NIH Council of Councils, visit http://opasi.nih.gov.

November 2007