You are here
News Release
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
NIH Director announces appointment of Janine Clayton as Director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and the Associate Director for Research on Women’s Health
National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., announced today the appointment of Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., as Director for the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and Associate Director for Research on Women's Health, NIH.
Dr. Clayton has been serving as ORWH Acting Director since the retirement of Vivian Pinn, M.D., in August 2011. Prior to her tenure as Acting Director, Dr. Clayton served as the ORWH Deputy Director for three years. Dr. Clayton currently co-chairs the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers.
"Dr. Clayton's demonstrated leadership over the past year, scientific acumen, and commitment to this important area of research made her my first choice for the position. We are so fortunate that she will join the OD leadership team. I applaud her dedication in developing a comprehensive research agenda to inform sex-based personalized medicine," said Dr. Collins.
Prior to joining ORWH, Dr. Clayton was the deputy clinical director of the National Eye Institute, NIH. A board certified ophthalmologist, Dr. Clayton’s research interests include autoimmune ocular diseases, and the role of sex and gender in health and disease. Dr. Clayton research interest includes ocular surface disease. She discovered a novel form of disease associated with premature ovarian insufficiency that affects young women. Dr. Clayton is the author 80 scientific publications, journal articles, and book chapters.
Dr. Clayton is a native Washingtonian and received her undergraduate degree with honors from the Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine. She completed a residency in ophthalmology at the Medical College of Virginia and fellowship training in cornea and external disease at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital and in uveitis and ocular immunology at the National Eye Institute (NEI).
Dr. Clayton has been an attending physician and clinical investigator in cornea and uveitis at the NEI since 1996, conducting research on inflammatory diseases of the anterior segment and providing medical and surgical uveitis fellowship training. Her broad clinical research ranges from randomized controlled trials of novel therapies for immune mediated ocular diseases to studies on the development of digital imaging techniques for the anterior segment.
Dr. Clayton has received several awards from NIH and she is recognized as a leader by her peers. She received the Senior Achievement Award in from the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) in 2008 and was selected as a 2010 Silver Fellow by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Dr. Clayton has served on critical committees at the NIH Clinical Center and currently serves on the FDA Advisory Panel for Ophthalmic Devices; the executive committee of Womenseyehealth.org; the medical and scientific advisory board of Tissue Banks International; and the editorial board of The Ocular Surface.
"I look forward to seeing ORWH’s progress in promoting women's health and sex differences research at NIH advance even further under Janine’s direction," Dr. Collins said. "She has a great legacy to build upon, and I have every confidence that she will succeed."
For more information about NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health, visit http://orwh.od.nih.gov.
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.
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.
NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®