Dr. Dushanka Kleinman Has New Appointment

Dr. (Rear Admiral) Dushanka Kleinman, chief dental officer, U.S. Public Health Services (USPHS), was appointed Dec. 15, 2003, to serve in the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), as assistant director for NIH Roadmap coordination.

Impacting medical research in the 21st century, the NIH Roadmap is an innovative approach to accelerate fundamental discovery and translation of that knowledge into effective prevention strategies and new treatments. The strategic initiatives will address critical roadblocks and knowledge gaps that currently constrain rapid progress in biomedical research. They will synergize the work of many NIH Institutes and Centers, and collectively represent a unique effort that no single entity or group of Institutes or Centers can do, but are the responsibility of the NIH as a whole.

Three broad initiatives will be stimulated with these funds:

1. New Pathways to Discovery, which includes a comprehensive understanding of building blocks of the body's cells and tissues and how complex biological systems operate; structural biology; molecular libraries and imaging; nanotechnology; bioinformatics; and computational biology
2. Research Teams of the Future, including interdisciplinary research, high-risk research, and public-private partnerships
3. Re-engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise. Through these efforts, NIH will boost the resources and technologies needed for 21st century biomedical science.

NIH aims to accelerate the pace of discovery and speed its processing to develop new prevention strategies, new diagnostics, and new treatments, and, ultimately, to transfer these innovations to health-care providers and the public. For more information, please refer to http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/index.asp.

While serving in this appointment, Admiral Kleinman will continue her role as chief dental officer, USPHS. She is a past president of AAWD and recipient of our organization's highest honor, the Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award. Please join AAWD in congratulating Admiral Kleinman on her continuous and influential leadership in health research.