Spring 2013 NIDDK Director's Update
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NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers speaks at the NIH 2013 Black History Month Obeservance Program on Feb. 20.
Photo credit: Bill Branson/NIH Medical Arts |
A wise man once said, “If you have your health, you have everything.” Last month, I spoke with many people at the NIH’s 2013 Black History Month Observance Program about how a healthy body empowers us to live more freely, unrestrained by disease. It is a goal we are constantly pursuing.
Today, we have the knowledge to help us live longer and healthier, the knowledge to prevent or lessen the burden of chronic diseases that can limit our freedom. We can better manage and prevent serious, costly, and consequential conditions like obesity and diabetes – both of which take a toll on our nation and disproportionately affect African Americans.
Yet we still have work to do. Despite advances that have increased life expectancy and decreased disability, health issues continue to hold us back. For example, people with kidney failure – a common complication of diabetes – may spend many hours every week connected to a dialysis machine because their own kidneys aren’t filtering their blood. People with severe nerve and blood vessel damage – other complications of type 2 diabetes – may need a limb amputated.
At NIDDK, we fund and conduct research combating these serious diseases. Among many examples of research, the discovery of a human obesity gene, and its protein product leptin, was a major finding that has led to a wave of new basic and clinical research. The Diabetes Prevention Program showed the enormous power of lifestyle change for people with pre-diabetes. The Lifestyle Interventions in Expectant Moms study, or LIFE-Moms, is testing lifestyle interventions to control weight gain in pregnant women who are overweight or obese.
What drives us every day at NIH, and at the NIDDK, is our desire to help those people and others. Our role is to make scientific discoveries to help all Americans become free from disease – to live healthier and to live better.
In good health,
Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P.
Director, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Workshop of U.S., Indian diabetes experts sparks ideas for collaboration
By Dr. Eleanor Hoff and Amy Reiter
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Representatives from the Indian and U.S. governments met with diabetes experts from both countries to form collaborative ideas for diabetes research during the Indo-U.S. Workshop on Innovative Approaches and Technologies for Diabetes Prevention and Management. The workshop was held from Feb. 4-6 in New Delhi, India. Panelists included representatives from the NIDDK, Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum, Indian Council of Medical Research and the U.S. Embassy, New Delhi.
Credit: Indian Council of Medical Research |
On February 4-6, 2013, the NIDDK and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), part of of the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, held a scientific workshop to identify opportunities for collaboration between the two countries in high-priority diabetes research areas of joint interest. This workshop convened in New Delhi, India, with leadership from NIDDK, ICMR, and the NIH’s Fogarty International Center, along with diabetes experts from across the U.S. and India.
At the meeting, NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers pointed to a map illustrating the diabetes burden in the United States and India —about 26 million and 62 million people, respectively—to demonstrate the importance of joint efforts between the two countries. “A picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case, millions,” Dr. Rodgers told workshop participants. “India and the United States possess complementary scientific strengths and other resources that can be applied to the challenge of diabetes.”
The meeting, entitled “Indo-U.S. Workshop on Innovative Approaches and Technologies for Diabetes Prevention and Management,” comes after U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and India’s Honorable Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad signed a joint statement to collaborate on diabetes research in June 2012.
“If common solutions [developed through this initiative] are affordable, they would also be applicable globally,” said ICMR Director General Dr. V.M. Katoch at the workshop.
Workshop participants focused on four areas of opportunity: prevention and management, pathogenesis and pathophysiology, diabetes in youth, and innovative technologies for management and prevention.
Dr. Judith Fradkin, director of the NIDDK Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases, said these are areas ripe for collaborative efforts that could yield new understanding of diabetes in both populations. “Both countries have an interest in implementing findings through translational efforts—for example, technologies offer extraordinary promise to identify people with diabetes and to help them prevent complications,” she said.
By the workshop’s end, participants had not only identified collaborative opportunities in each area, but also recommended ways to facilitate collaborations, such as through standardizing research methods and assays, and leveraging existing biobanks and registries.
The ideas generated in this workshop will help inform a planned initiative for the NIDDK and ICMR to fund collaborative teams of U.S. and Indian diabetes researchers. The initiative specifics will be announced later this year.
Co-sponsored by the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum, this workshop stemmed from the latest in a string of scientific collaborations between the U.S. and Indian governments. NIH and ICMR, along with India’s Department of Biotechnology, are responsible for implementing the diabetes joint statement.
NIDDK Technology Advancement Office provides legal, business expertise
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Members of the NIDDK Technology Advancement Office are, from left to right, Chuck Niebylski, Marguerite Miller, Kate Sinclair, Anna Amar, Agnes Rooke, Cindy Fuchs, Vandana Chawla, and Matt Rechler. Not pictured: Marie Sanders.
Photo credit: Krysten Carrera/NIDDK |
By Krysten Carrera
When the newly formed National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) needed intellectual property expertise in screening applications for the Bridging Interventional Development Gaps (BrIDGs) program this summer, its staff turned to NIDDK’s Technology Advancement Office for support.
The BrIDGs program strives to “bridge” the gap between basic research and direct patient benefit by providing technical support to scientists. The Technology Advancement Office, formerly known as the Office of Technology Transfer and Development, contributed to the BrIDGs program by sharing expertise in intellectual property law and business matters to help NCATS staff assess risks and opportunities associated with the technologies proposed for BrIDGs development.
Each year, investigators from small companies, academia, and government apply for BrIDGs grants. Last year’s funding decisions were announced in December of 2012, and investigators had until February 1 to submit applications for 2013. As they did last year, Technology Advancement Office staff will help NCATS staff review the applications.
“Their input was extremely helpful in determining which BrIDGs applications NCATS should consider funding in 2012, and we look forward to working with them again this year,” said Lili Portilla, acting director of NCATS’ Office of Policy, Communications and Strategic Alliances.
While NIDDK researchers work to make discoveries to benefit people’s health, getting those discoveries into the hands of healthcare practitioners via medicines or other products can require a long and complicated journey. NIDDK’s Technology Advancement Office guides scientists through the often complex process of technology development, which involves translating research discoveries into practical applications and products. The office’s technology development expertise enables NIDDK to more efficiently move early stage discoveries along the development path to become new drugs and other therapies. Because that path involves technical and regulatory hurdles and a variety of business considerations, the Technology Advancement Office staff has expertise to help researchers navigate this challenging process.
“Our office guides NIDDK scientists through the patent process, helping them enter the product development pathway and turn their discoveries into new biomedical products that can benefit people’s health,” said TAO Director Cindy Fuchs. “We strive to make these processes as clear and achievable as possible to enable researchers to focus on their next discoveries.
“Working with NCATS was a way we were able to help other researchers translate bench work into medical practice, and enabled us to exchange information and share best practices with another NIH component.”
Special Funding for Type 1 Diabetes Research extended through fiscal year 2014
By Dr. Julie Wallace
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| Photo credit: CDC/Amanda Mills |
On January 2, funding for the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research (Special Diabetes Program) was renewed for fiscal year 2014 at a level of $150 million as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. The funding had been set to expire at the end of this fiscal year.
The Special Diabetes Program is a special appropriation that the NIDDK administers on behalf of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and in collaboration with multiple NIH institutes and centers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This funding augments regularly appropriated funds that the NIH receives for diabetes research and is specific to research on type 1 diabetes and its complications. It has enabled the creation of innovative large-scale research programs that would otherwise not be possible. For example, Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet, a large-scale network that conducts clinical trials to test strategies for type 1 diabetes prevention and early treatment, is supported by the program.
NIDDK has produced several evaluation reports on the Special Diabetes Program that can be accessed at www.t1diabetes.nih.gov. These reports describe all of the research the program has supported since its inception in 1998, as well as the program’s scientific achievements. The NIDDK periodically convenes meetings of external scientific experts to provide input on new and emerging research opportunities that could be supported by new funds. The next such meeting will be held this June.
2013 edition of NIDDK’s annual scientific report now available
The NIDDK annual scientific report, NIDDK Recent Advances & Emerging Opportunities, is now available. This report highlights examples of NIDDK-supported research advances published in fiscal year 2012. It also includes stories of discovery, which trace research progress in specific areas over an extended time frame; personal stories of patients who are living with diseases that are part of NIDDK’s research mission; and highlights scientific presentations made to the NIDDK’s National Advisory Council during the past year. The report also contains an overview of NIDDK research training programs; information on the HBO documentary series “The Weight of the Nation”—a collaborative public awareness campaign showing how obesity affects the country's health; and a feature on the 2012 Lasker award winner in basic research, long-time NIDDK grantee Dr. Thomas E. Starzl, a pioneer in the field of liver transplantation.
To read the report, go to www.niddk.nih.gov. Or request a hard copy via the message box at http://catalog.niddk.nih.gov/ContactUs.cfm, by calling 1-800–860–8747 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST on Monday through Friday, or by writing to NIDDK Clearinghouses Publications Catalog, 5 Information Way, Bethesda, MD 20892–3568.
NIDDK funds research to improve outcomes for people with cystic fibrosis-related diabetes
By Amy F. Reiter
Over the last fifty years, the life expectancy for a person with cystic fibrosis has increased from about 10 years old in 1962 to a median of 37 years for people living in the U.S. To keep improving the quality of life and longevity of people living with cystic fibrosis – a disease which affects the lungs, pancreas, and liver, among other organs – the NIDDK is embarking on a new effort to fund research targeting cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD), one of the most common complications for people with CF.
CFRD occurs in almost half of people with CF as they age, and people with CFRD tend to die earlier than those without diabetes. In 2011, the NIDDK convened a workshop to discuss the state of knowledge on the causes and consequences of CFRD. Based on these discussions, the NIDDK sought research applications (funding opportunity announcement RFA-DK-11-025) to study the cause of CFRD and why people with CFRD die earlier than their counterparts without diabetes.
One question that has dogged scientists is whether diabetes related to cystic fibrosis is directly due to a gene defect affecting insulin production, or whether the loss of insulin production is instead a consequence of widespread damage to the pancreas because of CF.
“We’re trying to understand the cause, the mechanism, which will in turn give us a better idea of how to go about preventing or treating CFRD,” said Dr. Catherine McKeon, senior advisor for genetic research for NIDDK’s Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases. “The research from these grants will help answer these questions.” McKeon said NIH received many high-quality applications. In the fall of 2012, three five-year grants were funded, to investigators at the University of Iowa, Pacific Northwest Research Institute/Vanderbilt University and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (grants R01DK097820, R01DK097829, and R01DK097830, respectively).
One project will study CF animal models to examine the mechanisms underlying impaired insulin secretion, with a long-term goal of finding therapies to restore insulin secretion. Another will study mouse models and human islets to look at the cellular and molecular mechanisms that result in CFRD. A third, aimed at trying to preserve beta cell function, will conduct a human clinical trial to explore the role of an intestinal hormone called incretins in restoring insulin secretion in CFRD.
NIH launches study of long-term effects of blood glucose during pregnancy: NIH–funded researchers plan to determine whether elevated blood sugar during pregnancy, a less–severe condition than gestational diabetes, influences later levels of body fat in children and development of diabetes in mothers after giving birth. The original study, the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes (HAPO), looked at 23,316 mother-child pairs and found that a mother’s blood sugar levels, even short of diabetes, were associated with her newborn’s birth weight and body fat. The HAPO-Follow-up Study (HAPO-FUS) seeks to recruit 7,000 of the original HAPO mother-child pairs.
NIH study shows big improvement in diabetes control over past decades: More people are meeting recommended goals in the three key markers of diabetes control, according to a study conducted and funded by the NIH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report, published online February 15 in Diabetes Care, shows that, from 1988 to 2010, the number of people with diabetes able to meet or exceed all three of the measures that demonstrate good diabetes management rose from about 2 percent to about 19 percent. Each measure also showed substantial improvement, with over half of people meeting each individual goal in 2010.
Researchers discover 71 new human genes associated with bowel diseases:The genes are associated with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, two chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) that affect the small and large (colon) intestines of nearly 2.5 million people worldwide. This study brings the total number of known genes associated with IBD to 163.The study was conducted by a consortium of researchers from the United States, Canada, and Europe. It was funded in part by the NIDDK IBD Genetics Consortium. The results were published in the Nov. 1 issue of the journal Nature.
NKDEP forms group to guide electronic records improvements for people with kidney disease
When healthcare practitioners review the charts of their patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), they often look for measures like estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urine albumin. But as many practitioners transition from using paper records to electronic health records and patients change providers, connecting and transferring this information across different electronic systems can be difficult.
The National Kidney Disease Education Program is working to eliminate these “lost in translation” patient records. In October 2012, NKDEP’s new Health Information Technology Working Group first met to work toward establishing guidelines for what and how electronic health information for people with CKD should be transferred across electronic health records systems.
The idea for the group originated with NKDEP’s community health center pilot project. During the project, several centers transitioned to using electronic records. But because these records systems did not communicate with one another, the centers were unable to establish patient registries and follow some patients’ continued progress in meeting CKD health goals.
“The goal of our group is to improve the detection and management of chronic kidney disease by enabling and supporting the widespread interoperability of data related to kidney health among healthcare software applications,” said the group’s chair, Dr. Uptal D. Patel, associate professor of medicine and in pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine.
In the short term, the group will identify what information is critical to kidney disease detection and management, and what changes need to be made technologically to better translate that information. In the long term, the group plans to engage industry, government and other partners to address these barriers, including by working with companies that create electronic health record systems.
NKDEP Director Dr. Andrew Narva said the impact of the working group’s efforts could be huge for both patients and their health care providers. “If the working group is successful,” he said, “healthcare providers should more easily be able to identify and monitor their patients with CKD and to implement changes to improve their health.”
Health literacy audit enhances NDEP materials
Three of the National Diabetes Education Program’s most popular publications have been reviewed for health literacy and branding, which has resulted in improvements in how NDEP creates understandable, easy-to-read print materials. Publications have been revised to address health literacy and plain language principles such as:
- Content: Have a clear purpose and focus on behaviors that support the objectives of the piece that the reader can accomplish
- Literacy demand: Match the reading level of the material to the reading skill level of the target audiences
- Health numeracy: Limit and simplify numeric concepts
- Graphics and visuals/Layout and design: Ensure graphics and visuals convey the main messages or purpose of the content
These materials from NDEP have been tested with target audiences, and technical reviewers have verified the accuracy of all scientific and medical information.
Order or download your free copy: Choose More than 50 Ways to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes, Did You Have Gestational Diabetes When You Were Pregnant?, and Take Care of Your Feet for a Lifetime.
NDIC creates new diabetes materials for health care instructors, consumers
Keeping physically active can significantly help people manage their diabetes and lower the risk of complications. Be Active When You Have Diabetes, a new booklet and instructor’s guide from the NIDDK’s National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC), helps people with diabetes learn about the health benefits of being physically active and ways to increase their activity level.
The booklet, written at a second- to third-grade reading level, contains tools to help people create and manage a physical activity plan, record target goals, and track their activities. A sample starter activity plan and questions for people to ask their health care team are provided.
Be Active When You Have Diabetes: A Guide for Instructors is the companion guide developed for use in one-on-one or small group patient education. Instructors may include nurses, diabetes educators, or community health workers. The flipbook provides color illustrations and large-print text on the patient side and simple teaching points on the corresponding instructor pages. The teaching points prompt people to come up with their own ideas about being more active and commit to a starter plan. The booklet and instructor’s guide include a list of relevant resources from across NIH.
The booklet and instructor’s guide are available at http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/VETR.aspx.
For more information about diabetes, visit the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse web site at www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov.
Division of Nutrition Research Coordination launches newsletter
A newsletter aimed at health professionals and nutrition researchers has been developed by the NIH Division of Nutrition Research Coordination. The quarterly publication provides NIH nutrition research highlights, interviews, information about upcoming conferences, and resources of interest. You can subscribe to the newsletter by visiting: https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A0=nih_nutr_qtrly or you can view newsletters on the DNRC website at http://dnrc.nih.gov/newsletter.
Planning and Grant Resources
NIDDK funding opportunities and deadlines:www2.niddk.nih.gov/Funding/FundingOpportunities/
Grants and contract notices:www2.niddk.nih.gov/Funding/FundingOpportunities/Notices/
Congratulations
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Longtime NIDDK grantee Dr. Lawrence Appel has been elected to the Institute of Medicine. He is director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research at The Johns Hopkins University, in addition to other roles. Appel has led a series of landmark studies that have set national standards for preventing heart disease, stroke and kidney disease, with both drug therapies and lifestyle modification. His research includes chairing the African-American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension that documented the benefits of aggressive blood pressure control in African-Americans with hypertensive kidney disease, and the POWER study, which showed the effectiveness of a weight-loss program delivered over the phone and internet. He is currently the principal investigator of the NIDDK-funded Hopkins Clinical Center of the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort study.
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“The Body Weight Simulator: An Interactive Tool for Accurate Personalized Weight Management,” created by Drs. Kevin Hall and Carson Chow – both senior investigators in the NIDDK Laboratory of Biological Modeling – and Dhruva Chandramohan, then a post-baccalaureate fellow in NIDDK, was a finalist in the HHSinnovates awards program. The program was created to celebrate and build a culture of innovation by U.S. Health and Human Services employees, including those of NIH, by facilitating the sharing of innovative ideas. Nominations can be viewed here: https://hhsinnovations.intranet.hhs.gov/ideas. The simulator can be found here: http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov. |
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“HHS and HBO Collaborate to Improve The Weight of the Nation -- A multiplatform obesity awareness campaign,” a collaboration which included staff from across NIDDK, was a finalist in the HHSinnovates awards program. The program was created to celebrate and build a culture of innovation by U.S. Health and Human Services employees, including those of NIH, by facilitating the sharing of innovative ideas. Nominations can be viewed here: https://hhsinnovations.intranet.hhs.gov/ideas. More about NIH’s role in the HBO documentary series, “The Weight of the Nation,” including a link to HBO short film about NIH, can be found here: www.nih.gov/health/NIHandweightofthenation/.
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Several NIDDK information and education programs received Aesculapius Awards of Excellence for 2012 from the Health Improvement Institute. The National Diabetes Education Program received the program’s highest honor, the Annual Aesculapius Award, for its website, www.yourdiabetesinfo.org/healthsense. The National Kidney Disease Education Program received an award of excellence for its website, www.nkdep.nih.gov. The National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse received an award of merit for its Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign website, http://celiac.nih.gov/. The April 16, 2012, edition of the Healthy Moments radio series (www2.niddk.nih.gov/HealthEducation/HealthyMoments/HealthyMomentsPastEpisodes), “The Obesity Epidemic,” received an award of appreciation.
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The Weight-control Information Network (WIN) received the Golden Thinker Award and two certificates of excellence from the North American Precis Syndicate, an organization which assists government and other groups to transmit stories to newspapers and other media. WIN received the Golden Thinker Award for “Use what you have to stay healthy and fit,” an article that appeared in 868 newspapers nationwide and was one of the organization’s top stories. A WIN radio news story on health habits during the holidays won certificates in honor of its 653 placements.
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Welcome
Four members joined the NIDDK Advisory Council in February:
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Dr. Sharon Anderson has joined the Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases subcouncil. She is a member of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, and professor and vice chair of the Department of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. She is also chief of medicine at the Portland VA Medical Center. Anderson’s research interests include the progression of chronic kidney disease, with an emphasis on polycystic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, and the pathophysiology of the aging kidney. She has also served as chair of the NIH General Medicine B and Pathobiology of Kidney Disease study sections. She was also the first woman president of the Council of the American Society of Nephrology and is a past chair of the Nephrology Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine, among other positions.
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Dr. Gopal Badlani has joined the Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases subcouncil. He is a professor of urology, vice chair of Clinical Affairs, and director of the Urogynecology Regenerative Medicine Program at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC. Badlani is an internationally renowned expert in voiding dysfunction, with specialties including urinary incontinence associated with pelvic organ prolapse in women and prostate surgery and neurological disease in men. He currently serves as secretary of the American Urological Association, and is former president of the Endourological Society and the Association of Indian Urologists in North America, among other positions.
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Dr. Irving Smokler has joined the Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases subcouncil. He is the founder and president of the NephCure Foundation, which supports research and advocacy for those with Nephrotic Syndrome, especially focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. He is the former professor at the University of Michigan and former dean of students at the university’s medical school. Smokler is also chairman of the board of The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a Jewish humanitarian assistance organization.
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Dr. Bruce Spiegelman has joined the Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases subcouncil. He is the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Professor of Cell Biology and Medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of cancer biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His research is focused on the regulation of energy homeostasis in mammals, primarily at the level of gene transcription. He is a longtime NIH grantee, an NIH MERIT awardee, and a member of the National Academy of Science.
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Dr. Alexxai (Lex) Kravitz joined the NIDDK intramural Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch as a tenure-track investigator, beginning near the start of 2013. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Gladstone Institutes of Neurological Disease. His research focuses on understanding reward circuitry in the brain and how dysfunction in this circuitry contributes to obesity.
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A Fond Farewell
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Dr. Louis Simchowitz, director of the NIDDK Office of Fellow Recruitment and Career Development left NIDDK in January. He began in the institute in 2002, with prior service in the federal government. In his career, Simchowitz also conducted basic biomedical research on the cell physiology of human neutrophil function in acute inflammation. He has authored over 60 scientific publications and served as an editor and reviewer for many medical and scientific journals.
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In Memoriam
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Dr. Benjamin T. Burton, 93, retired NIDDK associate director for disease prevention and technology transfer and scientist emeritus, died Dec. 22, 2012. During 34 years at NIH, Dr. Burton helped develop protein supplements to fight malnutrition in developing countries and played a major role in developing new technology for kidney dialysis. His textbook Human Nutrition has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. (Editor’s note: Read more about Dr. Burton in the NIH Record.)
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NIDDK grantee Dr. Christa Muller-Sieburg died in January. A professor in the Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology Program at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, her work had been supported by NIDDK since 1989. She was currently principal investigator of a grant entitled, “Epigenetic Control of Hematopoietic Stem Cells.” Dr. Muller-Sieburg’s research included discoveries such as the diversity of blood stem cells, as well as the emergence of myeloid bias in aging stem cells. Photo courtesy of Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.
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Suzanne Rosenthal, a former NIDDK Advisory Council member, died on Feb. 10. Diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 1955, just over a decade later in 1967, she was among the founders of the National Foundation of Ileitis and Colitis, now known as the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. Ms. Rosenthal also served on the first National Digestive Diseases Advisory Board from and the National Commission on Digestive Diseases. She was also founder and past president of the Digestive Diseases National Coalition, a coalition of more than 32 lay and professional groups that advocates for health care and health research legislation. (Pictured with her husband, Irwin M. Rosenthal.)
Photo courtesy of Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.
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The next edition of the NIDDK Director’s Update will be online at www.directorsupdate.niddk.nih.gov in May.
Submission information: The Director’s Update is published in March, May, September, and December. To submit an item for the next edition or send any comments or suggestions on the publication, please contact Editor Amy F. Reiter at reiteraf@niddk.nih.gov. Items must be submitted six weeks before the month of publication to be considered for the next issue.
Subscription information: To subscribe to the NIDDK Director’s Update, go to www.directorsupdate.niddk.nih.gov. The subscription box is near the top right of the page.
Page last updated: March 07, 2013
