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Gorden Wins Renold Award

NIDDK director Dr. Phillip Gorden was recently presented the American Diabetes Association's Albert Renold Award for a career distinguished by outstanding achievements in the training of diabetes research scientists and the facilitation of diabetes research. The award cites Gorden's efforts "to preserve the integrity of basic research during times of fiscal constraint and to strengthen mechanisms for research training and career development in diabetes. Under his stewardship, clinical research in diabetes also flourished: The NIDDK completed the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial and pioneered the Diabetes Prevention Program and Diabetes Prevention Trial-Type 1. The positive effects of Dr. Gorden's commitment to diabetes research have been felt both in NIH's intramural and extramural programs."

NIGMS' René Honored for Mentoring

Dr. Anthony A. René, NIGMS assistant director for referral and liaison, was recently honored by Harvard University's Biomedical Science Careers Program (BSCP) for outstanding mentoring. He was recognized for making significant contributions toward assisting students in pursuing careers in biomedical and behavioral research.

Dr. Anthony René, NIGMS assistant director for referral and liaison, meets with Dr. Joan Reede, director of the Minority Faculty Development Program at Harvard Medical School.

The BSCP was founded in 1991 to provide outstanding students — particularly African American, Hispanic American and Native American students — with the encouragement, support and guidance needed for the successful pursuit of careers in biomedical science. The program is sponsored by the Harvard Medical School Minority Faculty Development Program, the New England Board of Higher Education and the Massachusetts Medical Society.

As part of his duties at NIGMS, René oversees programs that offer research opportunities for underrepresented minority students in high school, college and graduate school, as well as opportunities for postgraduates and faculty members. He was honored during BSCP's "An Evening of Hope" awards ceremony recently at Harvard.

New Center Named for NLM's Spann

Dr. Melvin L. Spann, (c), NLM associate director, Division of Specialized Information Services (SIS), was honored recently when the Minority Health Professions Foundation named its new Public Health Training and Resource Center for him. The Spann Center, in Atlanta, supports the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in providing advanced training curricula to public health educators, community stakeholders and academic leaders in the areas of environmental health, HIV/AIDS, and community outreach and intervention strategies. Spann served as chief of SIS's Biomedical Information Services Branch from 1978 until he became director of the division in 1995. Among many achievements, he established and still directs a toxicology information outreach project to strengthen the capacity of HBCUs to train health professionals in the use of NLM's toxicology and environmental information resources. Joining Spann in the ribbon-cutting were NLM director Dr. Donald Lindberg (l) and Dr. Henry Lewis, III, president, Minority Health Professions Foundation, and dean, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Florida A&M University.

Howard Wins Duggan Award

Frances Humphrey Howard, special assistant to the associate director, Division of Extramural Programs, NLM, has received the Institute of International Education's Duggan Award. She was hailed for the significant contributions she has made toward increasing understanding and ties between citizens of the U.S. and those of other nations. The IIE administers the Fulbright Student and Scholar Programs, among numerous other educational and cultural exchanges. The Duggan Award, named for the institute's first president, Stephen P. Duggan, Sr., is IIE's highest honor.

Queens College Honors Kapikian

NIAID's Dr. Albert Z. Kapikian, recently received an honorary doctor of science honoris causa degree from his alma mater, Queens College in Flushing, N.Y., in recognition of his outstanding scientific contributions in the fields of epidemiology, virology and vaccinology. He graduated in 1952 with a bachelor of science degree cum laude, and was a star pitcher on the college baseball team. Today he is head of the epidemiology section in NIAID's Laboratory of Infectious Diseases. He has devoted his career to studying the viral causes of disease. Kapikian led an NIAID team that developed and patented an oral vaccine against rotavirus, the first rotavirus vaccine licensed in the United States.