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News Release
Friday, April 18, 2008
Three New Members Named to NIH Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health
Three new members have been appointed to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health (ACRWH), which held its semiannual meeting on March 17 in Bethesda, Maryland. The new members are: Linda C. Giudice, M.D., Ph.D., who is the Robert B. Jaffe, M.D., Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco; Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D., Ph.D., who is the Senior Associate Dean, State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and also the President-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA); and Debra Toney, Ph.D., R.N., who is the President of the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) and the Administrator, Rainbow Medical Centers, Las Vegas, Nevada.
The NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 charges the Advisory Committee with advising the Director of the Office of Research on Women's Health on appropriate research activities to be undertaken by the national research institutes with respect to women's health research and recommendations regarding the inclusion of women in clinical trials and opportunities for women in biomedical careers. The committee is composed of up to 18 members who are appointed by the NIH Director.
Dr. Giudice is a biochemist, gynecologist, and reproductive endocrinologist whose research focuses on endometrial biology and placental-uterine interactions, as well as environmental impacts on reproductive health. She is recognized for her extensive knowledge on the topics of endometriosis, implantation and ovulatory disorders, infertility, and assisted reproduction. She recently chaired the NIH Reproductive Medicine Network and was on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine from 2002–2007. She currently sits on the Society for Women's Health Research Board of Directors and the Institute of Medicine Health Sciences Policy Board.
Long active in organized medicine, Dr. Nielsen, who has served as Speaker of the House of Delegates of the Medical Society of the State of New York and as Speaker of the AMA House of Delegates, was named president-elect of the AMA in June 2007. Following a year-long term as president-elect, Dr. Nielsen will assume the office of AMA president in June 2008. She will be the second woman to hold the AMA's highest elected office. Dr. Nielsen helped formulate policy positions for the AMA House of Delegates on such issues as depression, alcoholism among women, Alzheimer's disease, and priorities in clinical preventive services. Dr. Nielsen is active at the national level in a variety of quality initiatives including the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Evidence Based Medicine and the Consumer Empowerment Committee of America's Health Information Community. A board certified internist, she has been named a Master of the American College of Physicians.
Elected the 10th President of the NBNA in November 2007, Dr. Toney will be installed as NBNA President on August 5, 2008. With over 28 years of experience in health care leadership roles in family practice management, ambulatory care, outpatient diagnostics, hospitals and home health care, she is currently responsible for the oversight of six primary/urgent care centers and an outpatient diagnostic center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dr. Toney, a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow, is the president/owner of TLC Healthcare Services, a licensed home healthcare agency specializing in private duty nursing and supportive care services. She developed the Men's Health Network and is a board member of the Jourdain Kasey Foundation, which is dedicated to increasing awareness and early detection of ovarian cancer. The recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Toney frequently speaks on leadership, men and women's health, and policy and practice issues at the national and local levels.
Continuing ACRWH members include:
Vivian W. Pinn, M.D., , Chairperson, Associate Director for Research on Women's Health, Director, Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), NIH, Bethesda, MD; Joyce Rudick, Executive Secretary, Director, Programs and Management, ORWH, NIH, Bethesda, MD; Alan M. Krensky, M.D., Ex-Officio, Director, Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives, Office of the Director, NIH, Bethesda, MD; Luther Clark, M.D., Executive Director, Atherosclerosis, External Medical and Scientific Affairs, Cardiovascular/Metabolic Business Unit, Merck and Company, North Wales, PA; PonJola Coney, M.D., Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Andrea Dunaif, M.D., Charles F. Kettering Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Ronald S. Gibbs, M.D., Professor and Chairman, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Colorado Healthsciences Center, Denver, CO; Constance A. Howes, J.D., President and CEO, Women and Infants Hospital, Providence RI; Scott J. Hultgren, Ph.D., Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; Linda M. Kaste, D.D.S., Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of Predoctoral Dental Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL; Nancy Norton, Founder and President, International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, Milwaukee, WI; Mary Beth O'Connell, Pharm.D., Associate Professor, Wayne State University, Detroit MI; Mary I. O'Connor, M.D., Chair, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Department of Orthopedics, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL; Eugene P. Orringer, M.D., Executive Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC; Sally Rosen, M.D., Special Assistant, Office of the Provost Director, Center for Women's Health Research, Leadership and Advocacy, Office of the Vice President for Research, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; Susan P. Sloan, M.D., Program Director, Internal Medicine, Drexel University's College of Medicine, Easton, PA; Barbara Yee, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI; and Carmen D. Zorrilla, M.D., Professor OB-GYN, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, PR.
The Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH) serves as a focal point for women's health research at the NIH. For more information about NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health, visit http://orwh.od.nih.gov/ and for additional information on the ACRWH, go to http://orwh.od.nih.gov/about/advisory.html.
The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH. Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/index.htm.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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