Okita Joins NIGMS
Dr. Richard Okita
recently joined NIGMS as a program director
in the Division of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological
Chemistry, where he will administer grants in the areas of drug
metabolism, transporters, eicosanoids, pharmacokinetics,
toxicology, drug delivery, and formulations. He will also manage
the institute's clinical pharmacology training grant awards. Okita
comes to NIGMS from Washington State University in Pullman,
where he was associate chair of the department of pharmaceutical
sciences in the College of Pharmacy and a professor of
pharmaceutical sciences. His research interests focused on the
cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase system — a superfamily
of proteins involved in the metabolism of both exogenous and
endogenous compounds including drugs, carcinogens, steroids and
fatty acids. He is a member of various professional societies,
including the American Society for Pharmacology and
Experimental Therapeutics, where he was elected to serve as chair
of the society's division for drug metabolism in 2001.
Greenwel Is New SRA at CSR
Dr. Patricia Greenwel
has joined the Center for Scientific Review
as scientific review administrator for the alcohol and toxicology
subcommittee-1 scientific review group. This group reviews
applications for grants to study the cellular and subcellular effects
of toxicants and alcohol. She received an M.S. and a Ph.D. in
experimental pathology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
where she showed that interleukin-6 accelerates liver cirrhosis
(scarring of the liver). This discovery has clinical relevance for
individuals afflicted with liver cirrhosis. During her postdoctoral
training at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, she
showed how type I collagen, the major scar component produced
during liver cirrhosis, is regulated at the genetic level.
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