Announcement
May 21, 2009
Three new members were recently appointed to the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council.
The new members are:
Michael D. Caldwell, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S., founder of the Personalized Medicine Research Project and director of the Wound Healing Program at the Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin. His current research focuses on the genetic basis of the body’s response to warfarin. Caldwell earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, an M.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and a Ph.D. in physiology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
John E. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D., professor of molecular biology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. He studies the structure of viruses using techniques like X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy. The goal of his research is to understand the assembly and maturation of virus particles in order to develop novel antiviral agents. Johnson earned a B.A. in chemistry from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Iowa State University in Ames.
Robert F. Murphy, Ph.D., the Ray and Stephanie Lane professor of computational biology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he also directs the Lane Center for Computational Biology and co-directs the Joint CMU-Pitt Ph.D. Program in computational biology. His current work focuses on applying computational methods to analyze fluorescence microscope images. Murphy earned a B.A. in biochemistry from Columbia University in New York City and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
In addition, Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Ph.D., was appointed to the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council late last year. She is a professor of chemistry and molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley where she also serves as director of the Molecular Foundry at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Bertozzi’s research focuses on cell-surface interactions that contribute to human health and disease, with specific projects in the areas of cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection. She earned an A.B. in chemistry from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.
The council, which meets three times a year, is composed of leaders in the biological and medical sciences, education, health care and public affairs. Its members, who are appointed to four-year terms, perform the second level of peer review for research and research training grant applications assigned to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), one of the National Institutes of Health. Council members also offer advice and recommendations on policy and program development, program implementation, evaluation and other matters of significance to the mission and goals of NIGMS.