NIH Names Four New MembersFor Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health

BETHESDA, MDFour new members have been appointed to the NIH Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health, which will hold its biannual meeting May 5-6 in Bethesda, Md.

"The new members of the Advisory Committee bring to the deliberations of the committee exceptional scientific knowledge and skills," said Vivian W. Pinn, M.D., Director of ORWH, "as well as broad perspectives and experience in women's health, women's health research, and related policy issues. This committee is a tremendous asset to women's health research."

Joseph K. Hurd, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Gynecology at Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts, will join the committee. Dr. Hurd is a seasoned clinician with expertise in surgery, obstetrics and gynecology. He has served on numerous national and regional committees and is currently a member of the Health Services Grant Review Committee for the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, as well as the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technology Assessment Panel of the Journal of the American Medical Association. His research interests include urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, practical pelvic anatomy and mechanisms of pelvic support, and breast and cervical cancer screening.

Also appointed to the committee is Barbara A. Koenig, Ph.D., Executive Director and Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics. Dr. Koenig is an anthropologist studying contemporary biomedicine. Prior to her tenure at Stanford, she was a faculty member at the University of California-San Francisco and served as the West Coast research coordinator for The Hastings Center, a bioethics organization in New York. In 1995, she was elected as a Fellow of The Hastings Center and of The Society for Applied Anthropology. She has a long-standing interest in the cultural context of biomedical innovation, such as organ transplantation. With colleagues from the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, she established the Stanford Program in Genomics, Ethics, and Society, an endeavor devoted to multidisciplinary research. Her research focuses on multiculturalism in health care from the perspecctive of end-of-life decision making.

Another new member, Angela Barron McBride, M.S.N., Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor and University Dean at Indiana University School of Nursing. In keeping with her multidisciplinary interests, she is an Adjunct Professor in the departments of Psychology, Psychiatry, Women's Studies, and Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. Dr. McBride has served as Executive Associate Dean for Research at Indiana University, and as Associate Director for Academic Affairs in the Department of Nursing at the Indiana University Medical Center. She has served as President of the American Academy of Nursing, and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the National Coalition for Women's Mental Health. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and of the American Psychological Association (Psychology of Women). Her areas of specialization and research include women's health, with the emphasis on depression, the psychology of obesity, and the functional assessment of the seriously mental ill.

The fourth new member appointed to the Advisory Committee is Linda C. Niessen, D.M.D., M.P.H., M.P.P., Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas. Dr. Niessen also serves on the staff of the Veteran's Affairs Medical Center in Dallas. She currently hosts a weekly television news report, "Dental Health Check," which covers dental issues of interest to consumers. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health and currently serves as President of the American Board of Dental Public Health. She previously served as President of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry and the American Association of Women Dentists. Her research interests include epidemiology of oral diseases in older adults, prevention of oral diseases, geriatric oral medicine, dental health services, and health policy research.

Terms expired earlier this year for ACRWH members Sheryle J. Gallant, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS; John C. Greene, D.M.D., Professor and Dean Emeritus, School of Dentistry, University of California at San Francisco, San Rafael, CA; Gloria E. Sarto, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Past Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; and Marjorie M. Shultz, J.D., M.A.T., Professor of Law, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. Drs. Gallant, Greene, Sarto, and Shultz were among the charter members of the ACRWH, which was established in April 1995.

Other members of the 18-member Advisory Committee include: Dyanne D. Affonso, Ph.D., F.A.A.N., Dean and Professor, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, GA ; Kathy S. Albain, M.D., Chair, Southwest Oncology Group Committee on Women's Health, Associate Professor of Medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL; Carol A. Aschenbrener, M.D., Senior Scholar in Residence, Association of Academic Health Centers, Washington, D.C.; Byllye Y. Avery, M.Ed., Founder, National Black Women's Health Project, Swarthmore, PA; Mary J. Berg, Pharm.D., Professor, College of Pharmacy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA; Edward N. Brandt, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Director, Center for Health Policy Research and Development, College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK; David M. Brown, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, and Head, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, School of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; Linda Burhansstipanov, M.S.P.H., Dr.P.H., Director, Native American Cancer Research Program, AMC Cancer Research Center, Denver, CO; John J. Estrada, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN; Lou Glasse, M.S.W., President Emerita, Older Women's League, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY; Irma E. Goertzen, President and Chief Executive Office, Magee-Women's Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA; Marianne J. Legato, M.D., F.A.C.P., Internist and Specialist in Women's Health, New York City, NY; Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Director, Center for Cancer Control Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; and Nancy Sabin Wexler, Ph.D., Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York City, NY.

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 research on women's health.

The committee will hold its biannual meeting from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, May 5, and 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, in Building 31, Conference Room 10, at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Guest speakers will include directors from three institutes: Anthony Fauci, M.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Richard Klausner, M.D., National Cancer Institute; and Enoch Gordis, M.D., National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Each will discuss women's health research in their respective institutes. In addition, Susan Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Women's Health) and Assistant Surgeon General, will discuss the programs and activities of the Public Health Service Office of Women's Health. For a complete agenda, please call Ellyn Pollack at 301-402-1770.