NIH 1998 Almanac/The Organization/NIEHS/
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences : Biographical Sketch of NIEHS Director
Kenneth Olden, Ph.D.
Dr. Olden was appointed NIEHS director on June
18, 1991. He came to the institute from Howard University College of Medicine in
Washington, D.C., where he had been director of the university’s cancer center, and
professor and chairman of the medical school department of oncology since 1985.
Prior to his appointment at Howard, he was a
research scientist from 1974 to 1979 in the NCI Division of Cancer Biology and Diagnosis.
Before coming to NIH, Dr. Olden spent 4 years as a research fellow and instructor of
physiology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Olden received his B.S. in biology in 1960
from Knoxville College, his M.S. in 1964 from the University of Michigan, and his Ph.D.,
in 1970 from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Born in Parrottsville, Tenn., he has written many
basic science articles, and while at Howard medical center, held a number of grants from
NIH. He published two of the "One Hundred Most Cited" papers in 1978-79, one of
which--on the subject of cancer cell biology--is now a "Citation Classic."
In addition to being NIEHS director, Dr. Olden is
also director of the NTP, a cooperative effort within HHS to strengthen the federal
science base in toxicology and to coordinate the toxicological research and testing
activities of the four PHS agencies.
Because of outstanding contributions in his
field, he was elected to membership in the NAS Institute of Medicine in 1994. He was also
recipient of the HHS Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award in 1995. In 1996
hereceived the City of Medicine Award in recognition of extraordinary achievement in the
medical and health care research fields. Additionally, Dr. Olden has been the recipient of
the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award and the Presidential Distinguished
Executive Award in October 1996 and October 1997, respectively. These are awarded by the
President to recognize Senior Executive Service level Federal Government employees for
sustained extraordinary career accomplishments. Also in 1997 the National Association of
Physicians for the Environment gave him its inaugural Award for Public Policy Leadership
for "remarkable leadership" of NIEHS.
Directors of NIEHS
