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Executive Director's Report In an ever-increasingly difficult budgetary process, biomedical research continues to struggle for federal support. Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives marked its Labor/HHS bill. The following is language reported from that bill. As Congress moves forward with final passage, the Friends will continue to advocate for oral, dental and craniofacial research. Sincerely, Alec Stone NIH Federal Appropriations Bill Funding:
Discretionary spending in the bill will increase a little less than one percent over last year. National Institutes of Health--Medical research at the National Institutes of Health is funded at a program level of $28.3 billion, slightly above last year's level and equal to the budget request. This represents a 120% increase from a decade ago. The bill fully supports the peer review approach to the distribution of medical research grants by essentially following the NIH's recommended funding distribution among the various institutes. For the full press release on the funding highlights, visit: appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?...=6&Year=2006 News from NIDCR Recently Cleared Concepts
See Current Funding Opportunities (Recently Cleared Concepts): www.nidcr.nih.gov/Funding/CurrentFundingOpportunities/ Extension of Expiration Date for Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08) and Independent Scientist Award (K02) Funding Opportunity Announcements grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-06-063.html Notice of Intent to Reissue the Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) RFA and Request for Comments Regarding CTSA RFA grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-RM-06-016.html Directory of Grants and Fellowships in the Global Health Sciences U.S. Surgeon General Announces Selection of New Chief Dental Officer Changes in Business Process and Instructions for NIH Grant Applications
Personnel News Jim Lipton, D.D.S., Ph.D., retired from the U.S. Commissioned Corps and NIDCR on May 1, ending a career of 30 years in the Public Health Service. Since 1985, he held leadership positions at the NIDCR involving planning and evaluation, scientific development, research training and career development, and research infrastructure and curriculum development. In addition to helping start the first oral molecular epidemiology laboratory at NIH, Dr. Lipton played a major role in initiating the development and implementation of several new NIDCR/NIH research training programs and two new grant programs involving research infrastructure in dental schools and oral health research curriculum development. From 2004 until his retirement he served as senior advisor to the Chief Dental Officer (CDO), U.S. Public Health Service, assisting the CDO in all PHS dental public health activities. Dr. Nadya Lumelsky joined the NIDCR Center for Biotechnology and Innovation in April as program director of the Tissue Engineering Program. Most recently she served as an investigator in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Before that she was a special expert and staff scientist with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for two years. Dr. Lumelsky received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the State University of New York and a combined M.S. and B.S. in chemical engineering and basic organic synthesis from the D. Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology in Moscow, Russia. Patient Advocacy Spotlight: Temporomandibular Joint and Muscle Diseases and Disorders Forsyth to Take Leadership Role in TMJ/TMJD Research Boston, MA: The Forsyth Institute has announced the appointment of Lin Xu, MD, PhD, as the Milton & Renee Glass Family Fellow in Jaw Joints & Allied Musculo-Skeletal Research. Dr. Dominick DePaola, President and Chief Executive of Forsyth said, "I am delighted with the appointment and with the entry into this exciting new field of research for Forsyth. It represents a breakthrough in the application of basic science into a craniofacial disorder affecting millions of Americans." Dr. Xu's current research focuses on the underlying causes including genetic factors, of osteoarthritis in the jaw joints. Arthritis is widely considered a co-morbid condition of temporomandibular muscle (jaw) joint disorders/disease (TMJ/TMJD) the same painful and disabling condition that affects other joints in the body. Dr. Xu's experience and breadth of scientific inquiry fits well within the fellowship mission to explore growth and development of healthy jaw joints in children as they develop pre- and post- natally. Subsequently, the investigation will explore the disorders/diseases of the temporomandibular joints and overlapping or co-morbid health disorders, through genetic and molecular science. The Glasses founded the Jaw Joints & Allied Musculo-Skeletal Disorders Foundation (JJAMD), a 501(c)(3) organization, in 1982. JJAMD is the nation's pioneer TMJD patient advocacy organization. Their passion and dedication have increased public awareness of the debilitating medical and oral health disorder. JJAMD's work with NIH/NIDCR has earned them membership on the NIHTMJD Interagency Working Group, where they participate in planning and discussions involved with a number of governmental agencies either actively involved or potentially participants in TMJD research. Through close collaboration with Forsyth, JJAMD is addressing an NIH initiative involving advocacy organizations in research. Further information can be obtained by accessing JJAMD's web site www.tmjoints.org. Effective Strategies For Tobacco Cessation Underused, Panel Says Of the 44.5 million adult smokers in the United States, 70 percent want to quit and 40 percent make a serious quit attempt each year, but fewer than 5 percent succeed in any given year. Effective tobacco cessation interventions are available and could double or triple quit rates, but not enough smokers request or are being offered these interventions. Nicotine is highly addictive and a major public health concern. A national, coordinated strategy for tobacco control that casts a wide net is needed to address this critical gap. This was a key finding of an NIH state-of-the-science panel convened this week to assess the available scientific evidence on tobacco use prevention, cessation, and control. Text of the panel's state-of-the-science statement is available at consensus.nih.gov, including the panel's identification of promising directions for future research. "It's important to recognize tobacco use as a serious, chronic health issue that requires sustained attention," said David F. Ransohoff, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chair of the conference panel. "Quitting is a struggle, but researchers have learned a lot about what works to help people quit smoking. We need to make sure that effective interventions reach the people who need them most." The panel emphasized that preventing initiation to tobacco use is essential to reducing tobacco-related illness and death. Initiation to tobacco use occurs primarily during adolescence, with almost all adult daily smokers trying cigarettes before age 18. In fact, over 20 percent of 12th graders have smoked in the prior 30 days. The panel found that programs aimed at preventing tobacco use in youth are most effective when they utilize multiple approaches such as mass media campaigns and price increases through taxes on tobacco products. The 14-member panel included experts in the fields of medicine, general and pediatric psychiatry, addiction medicine, nursing, social work, population science, cancer prevention, minority health and health disparities, clinical study methodology, clinical epidemiology, and a public representative. A listing of the panel members and their institutional affiliations is included in the draft conference statement. Interviews with panel members can be arranged by calling Kelli Marciel at 301-496-4819 or via e-mail to marcielk@od.nih.gov. Funding Opportunities New Models of Pain Relevant to the Trigeminal System (R01) (RFA-DE-07-006) Exploratory/Developmental Bioengineering Research Grants(EBRG) [R21] (PA-06-418) Bioengineering Research Grants (BRG) [R01] (PA-06-419) Innovations in Biomedical Computational Science and Technology (R01) (PAR-06-410) Exploratory Innovations in Biomedical Computational Science and Technology (R21) (PAR-06-411) Pharmacogenetics of Fluoride (R21) (PAR-06-421) Joint Degeneration: Mouse Models (R21) (PA-06-450) |